It's a humble privilege, and
I mean that, to be here. To be able to stand and preach to God's children, ones
he died for. What a privilege and what a responsibility. I'm glad to be here, and the
Lord has blessed you. He's blessed you with a beautiful
facility. But you know whether we have
little or much, we are greatly blessed. We are greatly blessed
of God. I think the greatest blessing
that the Lord can give to any of His children is a growth in
grace and a knowledge of Christ continually. That we can grow
in grace and knowledge of Him until He takes us home. Until
we are ripe for the picking and ready to go home. Now, I know
all things are providential. You know, we have a habit sometimes
to say, well, that was providential. Well, what's not? I mean, everything
is. But Brother Gabe read about the Lord, our King. And then
we sang the song, The Lord is King. And I had prayed before
coming here that the Lord would give me a message that I could
exalt the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what I wanted to do. I
just wanted to come here and brag and exalt him. And so I'm
gonna talk to you tonight about Kiss the King. This is all about
the king tonight. I'm gonna talk about our king.
That's all right, isn't it? We have a king. We live, and
I realize this, I live and we live under a theocracy. The Lord
Jesus Christ reigns right now. I'm not shook up, I'm not worried
about the way things are going on the political landscape. My
Lord is King and it's going exactly as He purposed it to go. He rules,
He rules, everything that moves, everything
that has an existence. The Lord Jesus Christ is ruling
it. He's directing it. How can you
not sleep tonight? How can you not sleep? How can
you not go to bed and lay your head down in comfort, knowing
that your King is King of glory, King of the universe, God's King,
set upon Zion, God's holy hill of Zion. Now turn to Psalm 2. Psalm 2. I want us to look at
this Psalm briefly as we can, but I pray the Lord will enable
me and Bruce to preach above ourselves tonight to honor and
glorify, magnify our God and our King. Now the first verse
there asks a question. Why do the heathen rage and the
people imagine a vain thing? Why do the nations rage? This shows that the whole world
is against our Lord. Our Lord said in John chapter
seven, he said, the world hateth me because I testify of it that
its deeds are evil. And he says the world, he's not
talking about China, North Korea, he's talking about the whole
world, he's talking about America also. Apart from a few people
whom the Lord has saved in this country, this country hates Jesus
Christ. This country hates God. If this
country could, it would get rid of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. They keep all this other garbage,
But they would get rid of this gospel we preach. But God has
a people in this country. And this country doesn't realize
it, but this country is this country because he has a people
in it. And he's blessing it for their sake. Everything, that
sun that shined today, shined for you. The rain that comes
on your garden and that comes on the garden of the unjust,
it comes for you, it's for you. Everything that God sends into
this world is for his elect. It's for their blessing. The
ungodly get to share in it. They get to share in it. But
it's for you. It's for you. But listen here. Why do the heathens rage? Why
do the nations stand against the Lord? What do they have the
rage about? God is holy. What's wrong with that? God is
just. What's wrong with that? God is
love. It says God is love. God is merciful. God is gracious. What's wrong
with that? God is God. What's wrong with
that? God gives men the air they breathe.
It is his food they eat. And yet they rage against him. They rage against the Lord Jesus
Christ. The question is, why do they
rage like the ocean in a storm? And here's the first reason why.
Because the natural mind is enmity against God. There's only one
man who loved God always, from birth. The Lord Jesus Christ,
he loved God always. Nobody else. Nobody else. Everybody else is born with an
enmity against God. And no matter how blessed a man
is, his mind is still enmity against God. He'll call it luck before he'll
ever give God the praise for it. That's that enmity coming
out. That's that enmity. And then
secondly, man is born dead in trespasses and sins. He's spiritually
dead. You know, when we talk about
the fall in the garden, and Adam fell, but it was more than a
fall, because you can get up from a fall. You tell somebody
somebody fell, they think you can get up. He died. In Adam, it says, all died. When sin entered, death entered.
It was more than just a fall, it was a death. It was a spiritual
death. We have not the life of God in
us by nature. We don't have that at all. By
nature, listen, God is spirit, man is flesh. God is light, man
is darkness. God is truth, man is a lie. God is on a whole other level
than we are. You know, there's the life of
animals, there's the plant life, then there's human life, and
then there's God who is life. He's life. And then thirdly, it doesn't
matter if a man is rich or poor, educated or uneducated, he despises
God's way of salvation, the way of grace, the way of Christ and
Him crucified. He despises that by nature. It
says in the Scriptures that our Lord was despised and rejected
of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And then
it says here in verse 2, and the kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against
His anointed, saying, here's what they did, they set themselves,
determined to kill Him. What did he do that was worth
killing him over? He said, I've done one work,
I've done a good work among you, and you seek to kill me. They
sought to kill him. We see all this happening in
the Gospels. This is a prophecy here in this
verse of how he would be retreated, be received and treated. It says
in Acts 4.26, the kings of the earth stood up. And the rulers
were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ. But you know what they did? They
did exactly what God determined to be done. That's exactly what
happened to the Lord Jesus Christ. It was not a mob out of control,
it was a mob under His control. It was a mob under His control.
When they came out to get Him in the Garden of Gethsemane,
And he asked them who they was looking for. And he said, I am.
And they fell backwards. He had to help them get up and
finish the job. He had full control of that mob. And he had to give them the strength
to finish the job, to do what was determined to be done. And
here's what the kings and rulers wanted to do. It hasn't changed. We see this in this country right
now. Let us break their bands, their
restraints, asunder and cast away their cords from us. Break
their authority. Break their restraints. Don't
we see this in this country? No restraints? They want no restraints. Break their authority. Break
their control over them. They want that power. Man, by
nature, wants that power that belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ
alone. Alone. No restraints, no punishment
is what they want, and they want to take that from Him, and they
want to use it. They want to use it. But notice
a pattern of rebellion here. They rage, they imagine, they
set themselves, they take counsel, and they say, let us break. Let
us break their bands. Now how is God going to deal
with this? How is God going to deal with
this? This rage, this animosity, this enmity, this hatred of this
world, how is He going to deal with it? Well it says in verse
4, He that sitteth in the heaven shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision. Here's God's response, He shall
laugh. How laughable, now listen, how laughable is it when a man
or all men or all demons or Satan tried to dethrone God? Satan
said, I'm gonna exalt my throne above God, I'm gonna be God.
And what happened? He got cast out. Adam did the
same thing. He was gonna be God. What happened? He got cast out.
He got cast out. God said, he that sitteth in
the heavens shall laugh. And notice God's position. He's
not wringing his hands. He's not wringing, he's not trying
to think, now what am I going to do? You know, Calvary, Calvary
is not a rescue attempt on the human race. It's a redemption
of a people. God redeemed a multitude of sinners
no man could number, or nobody be saved. Nobody be saved. Here's his position. He sitteth.
He sitteth. At rest. He's at rest. Undisturbed. God is undisturbed. He's not wringing his hands.
He's not concerned. He sitteth. You know why he sitteth? It's under control. It's not
out of hand. You know, you wring your hands.
I was in business for a number of years. You wring your hands
when it's out of control and you don't know what's going to
happen the next day. God's not a knee-jerk type of God. He's
purposed to end from the beginning. It's exactly what He's done.
He sitteth at rest, undisturbed. Heaven, which is God's throne,
is not in turmoil. The earth is because of the wickedness
of it, but not heaven. He's not in turmoil because of
man's rebellion. When Adam rebelled against God,
was there thunder and lightning? You know what happened? He said
he heard the voice of God walking in the garden in the cool of
the day. It had already been taken care
of. Christ the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
This matter's already taken care of. You know, it's not like he came into
the garden and said, what happened? I didn't create you this way.
Why did you do this? He just came into the garden
and said, Adam, what are you? What are you? And for the first
time, it's mentioned, Adam was afraid. And we've been afraid
ever since. Unfounded fears. Sin. sin. He sitteth in the heavens. He's
undisturbed. There's no weapon formed against
God, against Christ, against this church that shall stand.
The more you persecute the church, the bigger it grows. Isn't that
what happened in the early church? The more it was persecuted, the
greater it... I tell you what's dangerous is
when Zion is at ease. That's what's dangerous. But
when Zion is persecuted, that's when, those are birth pains.
That's when she grows. She grows. And it says here,
he'll have them in derision. I got this from Henry years ago,
and I remembered it. But he'll mock at them, he'll
mock them. God will let them set up their
artillery, and he'll use it on themselves. And here's two examples. Pharaoh, he said, kill all the
male children, kill every one of them. Well, Moses' mother
didn't do that. She happened to believe God,
and she put him in a basket. Moses raised up his own executioner. Moses raised up in Pharaoh's
house, Israel's deliverer, and he didn't even know it. But here's
another one, Haman. He said, I'm going to get Mordecai.
I'm going to get that guy. I hate him. I hate him. He hated him because he was God's
child. And he went out and he built
a gallows. And he was just, man, he was
like, oh, I'm going to watch him hang. And they hanged him
from it. They hanged him from it. He will have them in derision. They'll dig a pit and guess who
will fall into it? They will. God said they will. Then shall
He speak. Now they have raged. They have
raged and they have vented out their enmity, their animosity,
their hatred on the King of Glory. God sent His Son. and humanity
turned on him. Religious humanity and just pagan
humanity. The whole world turned on him.
But then he's going to speak. God's going to speak. Now it's
his turn. It's his turn. And when he speaks, everybody
else got shut up. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath,
and vex them in his sore displeasure, when men have played their games
long enough God will speak. I assure you, sooner or later,
God will speak. History has proven God will speak. He will speak. God will speak.
And listen, that's all that God needs to do. Speak. God does not need to gather an
army. He does not need to muster up
an army. All he needs to do is speak one word. You know, the
whole world is held in place by the word of His power. And
all He needs to do is speak that same word, and He just crushed
all of them. The battle is not yours, it's
His. And all He needs to do is speak.
He's speaking tonight in the gospel. Listen. Listen. Lord, let me listen.
Even as I preach, let me listen. Let me listen to even what I'm
saying. All he needs to do is speak.
His word alone is enough to wipe out all his enemies. And listen,
there is such a thing as wrath. There's such a thing as wrath.
You know one time water was over this ground we're standing on?
I was looking at a mountain, was driving down the road, and
I don't know what it's called, it was pretty tall back this
direction. You know the water was over that
mountain? I think the water was like 20 feet over the highest
mountain. This whole earth was flooded. And I believe that. I have God's
word on that. Now God didn't flood them. Now
listen, this may sound harsh, but God didn't kill every one
of them because He loved them. He hated the workers of iniquity.
That's the truth. That's the truth. What about Sodom and Gomorrah?
God burnt them to the ground. He made an example out of them.
We don't need 10,000 examples. He made one example. out of Sodom
and Gomorrah. He'd burn it to the ground. But the greatest example of God's
wrath is Calvary. He spared not his own son. What
does it say about me? How wicked must I be? How evil
must I be for such a one to have to come into such a place and
die such a death in order to save me? What does that say about
me? When I look at Calvary, I see
God's wrath, I see God's justice, I see God's love concerning the
people. I see that, but I also see how
wretched I must be for Christ, the Son of God, to have to come
into the flesh and die such a horrible death. God Almighty died under
the penalty of His own law. My soul, my soul, what must I
be? I can't even begin to comprehend
how evil I am by nature. That is incomprehensible. Only
Jesus Christ was able and is able to comprehend the very evil
and death of sin. We can't go there. We can't go
there. We have conviction of sin, but
it's not like, believe me, every one of us is a lot worse than
we think we are, a whole lot worse. Calvary, the greatest display
of God's wrath and the greatest display of God's love at the
same time. Yet, listen now, verse 6, yet
have I set my king, my decree, I've ordained this. You see,
the heathens have raged. They have said, let us cut their
cords and bands asunder. Let us cut their restraints from
us. And God said, I'll laugh, I'll
have them in derision, but I set my king. This is done. This is
done. It's past tense. It's done. I have set my king
upon my holy hill of Zion. Man's rage cannot stop God's
purpose. Christ is set as king forever. Now every king has a kingdom
and his kingdom is Zion. Aren't you glad you're in the
kingdom of God? You know, I live in two kingdoms. You live in
two kingdoms if you believe the gospel. I live in this kingdom
here in this world of men, but I live in the kingdom of God.
And I'm far more concerned about the kingdom of God than I am
about the kingdom of men. Because the kingdom of men is
doomed. But the kingdom of God is an everlasting kingdom. It's
a kingdom that has dominion forever and ever. His kingdom knows no
boundaries. It knows no boundaries. And everyone
in His Kingdom is born into it. There ain't no migrants. You're
not going to migrate into the Kingdom of God. You're born into
it. That's how you become a citizen. You're born into the Kingdom
of God. He says here, He says here in
verse 7, listen, I will declare the decree, this is the Lord
Jesus speaking, the Lord has said to me, thou art my son,
this day have I begotten thee. You know, our Lord said this,
as I hear, I speak. And he said, I declare the decree.
The decree that was settled before the foundation of the world is
what I speak and nothing else. This matter of the rule and the
reign of the God-man mediator, Jesus Christ, was settled long,
long, long, long, long ago. Way back there before anything
was created. He was settled as King. Ain't
nobody made Him King but God. He's King. And His decree will
not change. And we see in the providence
of God the unfolding of God's decree concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ and His redemptive glory being completed. That's what's
going on right now. You get up in the morning, you
turn the news on, see what's going on. I tell you what you
do, turn to the Word of God, see what's going on. Here's our
textbook. Here's our textbook. God has
revealed himself in here. You know, I have a great future.
You know, every now and then, I go to a place up in Dunn, North
Carolina. We go up there to plant up fitness,
me and Vicki. And there's a house there that
says, palm reading. Palm reading, you're gonna tell
me my future. I've already been told my future. There'll be no
more sorrow. There'll be no more tears. That's
my future. I have a great future. In Ashland,
written on the police cars, it says a proud past and a bright
future. Well, I have a terrible past, but I have a bright future.
I have a past I don't want to talk about, but I have a future
I want to talk about. There'll be no more crying, no
more sorrow, no more sin, no more temptation. Living on an
earth wherein dwells righteousness, Can you imagine that? I think
about that more and more often as I get older. And listen here,
and I'm going to hurry up. He says here in verse 8, Ask
of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance.
Oh, I'm so glad he asked for us. You know he asked for me. Think about that. The Lord Jesus Christ said, Give
me John Chapman. I can't put that into words.
Give me John, give me Paul, give me Gabe, give me this, give me,
and you know what? He did. He gave them to him. And here's what he gave him.
He gave him all the promises that he promised in the covenant
of grace. And you were it. You were it. You're his, and
I can't imagine anybody would rejoice on me being their inheritance. I gave my mom and dad a headache.
I did. So much so, they gave me a backside
ache. But he rejoices over us. He said,
I made you. I formed you. You're mine. And
he asked for me personally. He didn't just say, well, I'll
take this group. Everyone whom he saves, he asks for by name. I know my sheep by name. And
he asks for you by name. Think about that. Before the
creation of the world. Wow. I'm over my head. He said in John 17, Father, I
pray for them, which thou hast given me. In another place he
said, Father, I will. that they be with me where I
am, that they may see my glory, they may behold my glory, which
I had with you before the world was." And I get to see that. I was telling the church back
home yesterday, I said, and this is so, I stand amazed, and it
just hits me at times stronger than at others, I stand amazed
that God saved me. God saved me? Do you know what
that means? My soul, how can I not bow to
him? How can I not say, Lord, what
would you have me to do? What would you have me to do?
Sweep the streets? Any of you think you have a menial
job? No, it's the one he gave you. If he sent an angel down
here to do it, I bet you that angel wouldn't complain. He wouldn't
complain. They wouldn't complain. Listen here, remember this. God
has forgiven you and given you everything you have for Christ's
sake. For Christ's sake. And then listen. He says, Thou shalt break them
with a rod of iron. Thou shalt dash them in pieces
like a potter's vessel. Every knee is going to bow. Every
tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory
of God the Father. His reign is sure. And he will
in time destroy all things that offend. Now, here's my advice
to you. No, here's my word to you. Be wise now, therefore. Be wise. O ye kings, be ye instructed.
O ye judges of the earth, be wise. You cannot take God on
and win. Listen to his preacher. Listen
to what I've said. Listen to what Bruce says and
what the others say. Listen to your pastor here every week,
listen. I wish I'd have done that when
I was in school. The hardest thing to do is listen. Be wise now therefore and listen,
listen to God, listen to the preacher, listen to his word,
listen to his gospel and believe in him and bow and kiss the son. Kiss the son. God's long suffering
but there's an end to his long suffering. Serve the Lord with
fear, rejoice with, and rejoice with trembling. They go together. It's called worship. When you
put those two together, that's called worship. One missing the
other is not worship. It's presumption. And it all
comes down to this, and I close. Kiss the son, lest he be angry,
and you perish from the way Did you notice who said, lest he
be angry, kiss the Son? Everybody is talking about sweet
Jesus. Everybody wants to talk about Jesus. He loves and He
says here He is going to be angry. You know there is coming a time
when they are going to cry for the rocks and the mountains to fall
on them to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb? Kiss the Son, lest He be angry.
You perish from the way when His wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him. Embracing,
believe on Him, trusting. I tell you, if you have believed
on the Lord Jesus Christ, I don't care if you beg like Lazarus
at the rich man's gate, you're blessed. You're blessed beyond
measure, blessed. Bow to Him, embrace Him, kiss
Him now. Kiss him now while he is near. All right.