I'd like for you to turn with
me this morning in your Bible to Psalm chapter two, please. Psalm chapter two. I had a man one time question
my faith, and in doing so, he questioned my God, and he questioned
my Savior, and even my salvation. He asked me what made me think
that God existed. I told him the simplest answer
that I had at the time, and that was that God had revealed that
to me in and by and through His Word. However, that answer didn't
satisfy his question. He told me that he did not believe
that the Holy Bible was the inspired Word of God. He believed the
Bible to be nothing more than just a book written by man. There are a lot of people that
believe that. He said that he wanted me to prove to him that
my faith and my God and my Savior and my salvation were real and
genuine. And I told him that I couldn't
if he didn't believe the Holy Scriptures to be the Word of
God. I told him that I had no proof to offer other than that
which this book declared. The scriptures are very clear
that man is without excuse when he sees the creation that God
has made. A man knows within his heart
that it took a mighty and a powerful and a sovereign God to speak
this world into existence. But that in itself is found in
God's work. Without him believing this was
the word of God, I had no other means available to argue my case. You see, everything, absolutely
everything that I believe concerning God, concerning Jesus Christ,
concerning eternity, eternal life, heaven, hell, sin, and
salvation is according to what God says in this book. This is
why I know that redemption is by divine intervention. If God
doesn't give a sinner spiritual life, that sinner will never
believe or understand one solitary thing that you as a child of
God believe and hold dear. That was the very reason I believed
the Bible to be divinely inspired and he didn't. You see, it's
God who makes the difference. The apostle was very clear about
that. Who maketh thee to differ from
another? And what do you have that you didn't receive? And
if you received it, then why do you glory in it? And the child
of God doesn't. All the praise and glory goes
to God for the revelation that he gives us in his word. That
day that man looked at me and it was just in his eyes and on
his face that he thought I was sad and pathetic to put all my
confidence in a book that he thought was written by man. But
he'll be the one that will prove to be sad and pathetic when he
stands before a holy and righteous God without hope and without
excuse. Now listen, I, nor any preacher,
nor any mere mortal for that matter, can convince men and
women of the truth. Only God can. It'll take a divine
intervention from God. It'll take God giving the sinner
life in order for them to be able to see. And that's what
the Lord told Nicodemus in John chapter three. He said, verily,
verily, I say unto you that except a man be born again, he cannot
see the kingdom of God. Man's blind because man is dead. Dead men and women have no understanding
because they have no life. You can explain something over
and over and over again to one who's dead and they'll never
understand, never understand a thing for the simple reason
that they're dead. The problem lies in convincing
men and women that they are dead. And that's what makes the situation
even seem more impossible. A dead man or woman can be convinced
of nothing until they're born anew. born again, born from above,
made a new creature, a new creation in Christ. They cannot see the
kingdom of God. It is spiritual life that gives
spiritual sight. And then the Lord Jesus went
on to say to Nicodemus, except a man be born of water. Now that
doesn't mean baptized. Men and women and boys and girls
get baptized all the time. And all they do is get wet. That's
just a fact. They don't get saved from baptism.
Baptism is not salvation. Baptism is simply a profession
of faith in Christ, and it's identifying with His death, His
burial, and His resurrection. Being born of water means to
be born of the grace of God and by the Spirit of God. And unless
you are, you cannot see nor enter into the kingdom of God, John
3 verse 5. You see, the revelation is found
in the word of God and nowhere else. Do you believe this book
to be the word of God? It's the only way that God communicates
to sinners. Do you believe what this book
declares? If you do, it was only because God gave you life and
light. And it comes in that order. God
gives life and then He gives light. Now here in Psalms chapter
2, there are 12 verses in this Psalm. And I'll tell you that
the title of this message is Jesus Christ, the King of all. He's the King of all, whether
you know it or not. He's the King of all, whether
you bow to Him as King or whether you don't. He is the King with
whom you and I have to do, whether you acknowledge it or don't acknowledge
it. Doesn't change the fact that
He's the King of all. And Psalm chapter two makes that
very clear. Now, no doubt that this Psalm
is first referring to David as King. You know, Christ was Israel's
king, but they wanted a king that they could see. You remember
that? So the people made Saul king. But Saul was a disobedient
man and God rejected him. Then God chose a man, the scripture
says, after his own heart. And that man was David, and David
was that king. And David became Israel's king
with much opposition. When God sent the prophet Samuel
to Jesse's house, David's father, there were none there that even
considered David to be the one that God would make and anoint
as king. Not even David's father, Jesse. David wasn't asked to
be there when Samuel came. His father sent him out to tend
the sheep. His own father didn't consider
David to be a prospect for king, and certainly none of his brothers
considered him to be a candidate. He faced opposition from the
very beginning. And the reason given for this
by the scriptures is that men look on the outward appearance.
David didn't look much like a king. Well, he was a young boy, really,
but God looks on the heart. David was a man after God's own
heart. Even Samuel the prophet looked
on the outward appearance and he would have never considered
David to be God's choice. However, you can be assured of
this. David is going to rule and reign over Israel as king
because God had determined it to be so. So Psalm chapter two
is primarily about God's choice of David to be king of Israel. Yet with the eye of faith, God
shows his people, those whom he's given life and light, that
this Psalm has reference to the true king, the king of kings,
the Lord of lords, the Lord Jesus Christ. And God anointed his
beloved son as the king of all kings. This psalm is what we
call a messianic psalm. And it's crucial to understand
that the purpose of God in all things is to exalt and to honor
His Son. That in all things, Jesus Christ
must have the preeminence. It's God's purpose to exalt His
Son. Now that word preeminence, it
simply means to be first. It means to be superior. surpassing
all others in every way. It's always been God's purpose
to exalt and to honor his son. Philippians chapter two, verse
nine tells us that. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him and given him a name which is above every name. That's
preeminence. That's kingship right there.
That at the name of Jesus, every knee should what? Bow. He's King. Bow of things in heaven and things
in earth and things under the earth. And that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. And despite of all the opposition
that Satan and his demons and all the opposition of men in
this world, the Lord Jesus Christ is King and His kingdom is forever. And that's what Psalm 2 does.
It exalts and it magnifies the King of Kings and the Lord of
Lords. Now there are 12 verses, as I
said in this Psalm, and there are four divisions, each with
three verses in each division. The first division is found in
verses one, two, and three. And here we see the voice of
truth concerning this world and its opinion of Christ our King. And this Psalm begins with a
question. And that question in verse one
of Psalm two is why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a
vain thing? Now that word rage means exactly
what you would think it means. It means violent. It refers to
an uncontrollable Anger. That's the effect. Now listen,
that's the effect that Jesus Christ being King has on natural
men and women. They don't like it. Men and women
have no problem with Christ being in heaven. It's okay for him
to rule and reign there, but you keep him there, okay? He's not welcome in people's
homes. He's not welcome in our schools,
in our businesses, or in our government. He can be the giver
and he can be the forgiver, but not king. No, sir. Men agree
that it's okay for the Lord to send sunshine and to give rain
and to make their crops to grow, but he's not going to be their
king. He's not going to rule and reign
in their decision. He can reign in heaven. He can
stay in the church. He can be what he wants to be
there. He can be a teacher. He can be a healer. He can be
a financial advisor. There's a lot of people that
like him for that. He can even be your savior, but we will not
have this man to rule over us. He's not gonna be our king. That's
why the heathen rage. And people imagine a vain thing.
And why should we be surprised? It's always been that way since
the fall of Adam, even before. That was Lucifer's sin. That's
why Satan fell. He said in his heart, I will
ascend into heaven. He said, I'll ascend above God's
clouds. He said, I'll be like God. I'll
be above the most high. I'm going to be king. God's not
going to be king. I'm going to be king. And Lucifer
failed. And that's why our Lord said,
I saw Satan fall as lightning from heaven. Because you know
what God said? God said, no, you're not. You're
not going to be king. My son is king. Was that not
Adam's sin? The serpents say, well, you'll
be like God. You'll know good from evil. You won't need direction
from God. If you eat of the fruit that
God told you not to, you won't need His direction anymore. God
won't reign over you. You'll be your own boss. You'll
be your own king. And yet when they saw the fruit,
when they believed the lie of the serpent, they realized that
the tree was good for food, it was pleasing to the eye, and
it desired to make one like God, to make one wise. And what did
they do? They ate and they fell like Satan
fell. And it was that way at Calvary's
cross. This shouldn't surprise us. They
persecuted and mocked the Lord Jesus as king. They put a crown
of thorns on his head. They put a robe on his back.
They put a reed in his hands. They bowed their knee and they
said, hail, king of the Jews. They crucified him as the king
of the Jews. And on the cross were the words,
this is Jesus of Nazareth, not the king of heaven. This is Jesus,
king of Nazareth. That despised place where nothing
good came from. He's the king of the Jews, but
he's not the king of the universe. Pilate said, behold, you're a
king. And the Jewish people cried, crucify him. We have no king
but Caesar. Lucifer said, you can't be king.
Adam said, you can't be king. At Calvary, they said, he can't
be king. He can be a teacher. He can be
a prophet. He can be a healer, but he can't be our king. Why
do the people rage? Why do they imagine such a vain
thing? Because they don't know who He
is. He is King, and they don't know it. Verse 2, the kings of
the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together
against the Lord and against His anointed, saying, let us
break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us.
Well, that's a description of this world in which we live right
there. We live in in this kind of world today. There's no recognition
of the Lord Jesus Christ as King. Those in authority today, whether
presidents or kings or governors, rulers, they all take counsel
together against the Lord. They break the bans, meaning
the laws of God. No respect at all for what God
says in His Word. God has an order. God is a God
of order. He has order in this world. He
has order for governments. He has order for the home. He's
a God of order. And all men do is break His laws. Men don't have any interest in
them. They cast God's cords aside. That word cords there is just
an extension of laws. It means the values, the principles
of God. They don't want that reigning
over them. They cast them away. They desire to be rid of them
forever. They cast them away. But it's
a vain thing. It's a hopeless desire. It's
impossible. You can't do away with the rule
of God. Christ will always be King of
Kings. Now, I know most people don't
preach Him as that. They preach Him as a little helpless
pygmy Jesus who's trying to do something and wants you to let
Him. He wants to do something, but you've got to unite your
will with Him and y'all have to cooperate together to get
it done. Not King Jesus. not the Lord
of Lords. And I'm telling you, only a fool
says, no God for me. That's what a fool says in his
heart. That's what David said. It's a vain thing to imagine
getting rid of God. The world has spoken. The kings
of the earth have assembled together. They've determined to cast away
all God's laws. They desire to cast away His
sovereignty. And then we come to the second
division of the chapter, verses four, five, and six. They give
us the voice of wrath. God the Father now speaks. God
always speaks when He's ready to speak. Verse four, 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. Yet have
I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion. And men and women rage."
Men and women imagine vain things. But what does God do in their
response? He laughs. Did you notice where he is? He's
in the heavens. You remember when the idol worshipers
asked David, they said, where's your God, David? We know where
our gods are. They're where we made them. We
put them in their little houses and that's where they stay. We
always know where they are. Where's your God, David? David
said, my God's in the heavens. He's done whatsoever he's pleased.
Whatsoever my God pleased, that did He. Your God has eyes, but
He can't see. He's got a mouth, but He can't
speak. But my God, He does what He wants to, when He wants to,
how He wants to. Whether in heaven and earth and
the sea, all deep places, He goes where He wills and He does
what He pleases. He's large and in charge. Did
you notice God's position? He sitteth in the heavens. He's
sitting. Men are raging. They're uncontrollably
angry, but God is sitting calmly and he's laughing. He's not upset. He's laughing. One who is sitting
is resting and one who sits has finished his work. And what is
God's response to men's opposition? He's laughing and he holds them
in derision. That word simply means contempt. God holds them in contempt. It
means in mockery. Israel had been in slavery in
Egypt for over 400 years. Pharaoh saw what a multitude
Israel was becoming, and he got a little concerned. What's to
keep them from rising up and overthrowing us or joining with
one of our enemies? He was concerned, Pharaoh was.
And Pharaoh also heard that God was going to raise up a deliverer
to bring Israel out of Pharaoh's bondage. So Pharaoh had all the
male children killed, drowned in the river Nile. You remember
that? And he did so to prevent the deliverer from being born.
But what a vain thing to imagine. What a foolish thought. If God
thought it, it shall come to pass. And if God purposes something,
it shall stand. So it's a vain thing to imagine
that you can fork God's purpose. How vain to imagine that you
can stay God's hand or say unto Him and question Him by asking,
what are you doing, God? The answer's always the same.
I'm doing what I want to do. I'm doing what I will, what I
purposed. So what did God do here? Well,
He sent the baby Moses to Pharaoh's daughter. And Pharaoh raised
him, and Pharaoh clothed him, and Pharaoh fed him, and Pharaoh
educated him. And I guarantee you while all
this went on, God is laughing. The one who later said to Moses,
who is the Lord that I should obey His voice? The very one
who said, I know not the Lord and neither will I let Israel
go. And I'm just convinced that while he said those things, God
was laughing. It wouldn't be that long before
Pharaoh begged Moses to leave. And God knew it all along. And
I'm sure that he laughed. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? I ask you that question. That's a question from the scriptures.
Is anything too hard for the Lord? Well, he can do anything. He can do everything. In creation,
God said, let there be light. In the scriptures, there was
light. To destroy Noah's world, all God had to say was, let it
rain. All but eight people were destroyed.
God did it because the thoughts of their hearts were evil and
only evil continually. God said, let it rain. He wiped
them all out, the exception of eight people. to destroy wicked
Sodom and Gomorrah. All God had to say was, let it
burn. But in order to redeem his people,
God tells us here in verse six, he says, yet have I set my King
upon my holy hill of Zion. You see, Zion is the church and
that's what it took to save them. That's who it took to save them,
God's King. Christ came into the world to
save sinners. He came to preach the gospel to the poor. He came
to set at liberty the captives of sin. He came to heal the brokenhearted. He came to seek and to save that
which was lost. And this is the key to this whole
psalm. God said, I have set my king. This is God's appointed king.
This is the one that God has determined every sinner to have
to deal with. In Hebrews 1, verse 8, Paul said
unto the son, the father said, thy throne, O God, is forever
and ever. Your what is, your throne is.
A scepter of righteousness is a scepter of thy kingdom. Now
listen, Jesus Christ is God because God said he was. And Jesus Christ
is king because God said he was. You see, only a king has a throne,
and only a king has a scepter, and only a king has a kingdom.
And then we come to our third division in the chapter found
in verses seven, eight, and nine. And it's here that we have the
voice of the king himself, King Jesus Christ. Look what he says
in verse seven. I will declare the decree The
Lord hath said unto me, thou art my son, this day have I begotten
thee. Now here, the King of Kings declares
the decree. It's an eternal decree. It's
a decree of the King who is eternal. The decree of the King is his
eternal will and pleasure. This is the decree of His divine
wisdom. This is the decree of His divine
will. And this is a decree that cannot
be altered. This is the covenant between
the Father and the Son. This is the will of the King,
and it's always carried out. He's a sovereign King. God the
Father says unto His Son, thou art my Son, this day have I begotten
thee. Christ the King is the Son of
God. Not by adoption, but by birth. The only begotten of the Father.
What does that mean? Well, we talked about it last
week a little bit. He that is begotten is like the
one that begat him. Jesus Christ is God. Our King
is God. And the amazing thing about our
King is, is that he's also our shepherd. He gives his life for
the sheep. Our King does. He's the great
physician. He heals all our diseases. He's our bridegroom and he'll
never leave nor forsake his bride. He's our savior. He shall save
his people from their sin. He's our great high priest. He's
offered one sacrifice for our sin, the sacrifice of himself
and God has forever accepted it. We are accepted in our beloved
King. Our King is unique in that He's
also our prophet and our priest. Jesus Christ is our prophet,
priest, and King. These are the decrees of the
King. Look at verse eight. He said,
ask of me. and I shall give thee the heathen
for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth
for thy position." Now, these words are a continuation of what
the father said unto his son, the king. You see, God gave Christ
the heathen for an inheritance. Isn't that amazing? That's talking
about believers. That's talking about the elect
of God. That's talking about God's elect from among the Gentiles. This is talking about those who
are saved out of every tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue. This is talking about Christ
other sheep. You remember what he said? Other
sheep I have, them I must bring. Child of God, you are Christ's
possession. You are Christ's portion to be
enjoyed by him. you are a goodly heritage a peculiar
treasure you are his jewels you're the apple of his eye but those
who will not bow to the king there's great consequence look
at verse 9 thou shalt break them with a rod of iron thou shalt
dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel Now that's what awaits
those who do not bow and submit to God's King. That's what awaits
those who are stubborn and rebellious and say, I will not have this
man to rule over me. This is the end of those who
treat his person with contempt, reject his kingdom, disobey his
gospel and despise his commandments. He'll break them in pieces like
a potter's vessel, which is easily done with a rod of iron. And
when it's done, the pieces can never be put back together again.
There's a deadly consequence. Hear me on this. There's a deadly
consequence to those who will not bow to Christ. This is something that modern
day preaching omits. This is something that those
who cry, peace, peace, where there is no peace, fail to tell
sinners. They'll tell you how God loves
everybody and God wants to save everybody, but they won't tell
you about the wrath of God that awaits those who reject His Son. And that brings us to the fourth
and final division of the chapter found in the last three verses.
And that is the message of God's true servants, God's preachers,
What does the preacher say? We have it right here, verse
10. Be wise now, therefore. O ye kings, be instructed. Ye judges of the earth, you better
hear. The kings, judges, and rulers,
and leaders of this world, they need to be instructed. What is
the preacher's warning? Look at verse 11. Serve the Lord
with fear and rejoice with trembling. I'm sure most of you know that
word fear means the reverence. To fear the Lord is to reverence
the Lord. To serve the Lord with fear is
to reverence our King. It's to rejoice with trembling. You know, to fear without having
joy is nothing but torment. We rejoice because we know that
our King is out to do us good. We reverence Him in knowing that
He's working all things together for our good. Yet at the same
time, joy without reverence is nothing but presumption. To presume
that God loves those who do not revere Him is nothing but foolishness. And that's why we must, according
to verse 12, kiss the Son. You're gonna have to kiss God's
King lest he be angry and you perish from the way. How serious
is this? It's life and death serious.
Kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish, perish forever. What is a kiss? You know, a kiss
in our Lord's day was an embrace of approval. It was an act of
gratitude. A kiss was an act of worship.
You remember that woman that was a sinner, why she fell at
his feet and constantly kissed his feet. That was an act of
worship. Our King is worthy of our approval
and our thanksgiving and our worship. He's worthy of your
adoration. He's worthy of your love, your
gratitude. Christ is worthy of our worship. And if you kiss the son, if you
bow down before him as king, the scriptures here says that
you're blessed. You're blessed of God. False religion and false
preachers need to quit making Christ out to be a beggar. He's king. Kiss the son, lest
he be angry and you perish from the way. When his wrath is kindled
but a little, blessed are they that put their trust in him.
And oh, how blessed they are. Dear sinner, it's not too late.
It's not too late. You can still kiss the Son. You're
still on this side of judgment. If you still have breath in your
lungs, if you still have a beat for your heart, it's not too
late. And I strongly recommend that you kiss the Son. There's still opportunity to
kiss Him. And there's a great blessing of life to those who
do. And the last words of this Psalm,
I'll make my last words to you this morning. Blessed are they
that put their trust in Him. Oh, He's a King worthy of our
trust, is He not? And He's a King that's out to
do His subjects good. He doesn't call them servants,
He calls them friend. What a King, what a King. So I ask you, what think you
of Christ? What do you think of God's King?
Has He shown you that He's worthy? Do you know whose son he is?
He's God's son. He's the Lord's anointed. He's
God's appointed king. Kiss him while his wrath is kindled. If not, you'll perish. But blessed you'll be if you
do. May God enable you this day to
kiss the son, bow to him. May God be pleased to make it
so. Amen.