Well, I'm in Job. I'll get there.
Psalm 2. After I read this, Bill, would
you lead us in prayer after I read this? Why do the heathen rage or tumultuously
assemble? and the people imagine a vain
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 their bands asunder and
cast away their cords from us. 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 sent my King upon
my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree the
Lord hath sent unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten
thee. Ask of me and I shall give thee
the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the
earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a
rod of iron, thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's
vessel. Be wise now, therefore, O ye
kings, be instructed, ye judges of the earth, serve the Lord
with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry,
and ye shall perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled
but a little. Blessed and happy are all they
that put their trust in him." Okay, Bill. Turn back to Psalm chapter 2. Title of the message, the son kiss the son this is
not a suggestion this is a command god never gives suggestions and
he doesn't give us advice he gives us commands you know come
unto me all your labor and heavy laden is a command believe on
the lord jesus christ is a command, that's not an invitation, that's
a command to believe. We ought to believe God. We ought
to believe God. We ought to expect everybody
to believe God. I know who we are, what we are
by nature, but God is to be believed. God is the only person that's
never lied. Only once, that's never lied.
God cannot lie, that's what it says. Now he starts out with a question
here, the psalmist does. Why do the heathen rage? And that has the meaning like
the ocean being churned up by a storm. It's the raging of the
ocean and the waves. And he likens the heathen, and
the word heathen there is nations. Anyone that didn't belong to
Israel was called a heathen. And what he's saying is, why
do the nations, the nations of this world, why do the heathen
rage and the people imagine a vain, a futile thing? Why do the nation's rage shows
that the whole world is against our Lord? Isn't that amazing? He came into the world and the
world knew Him not. When the Creator came into the
world, He wasn't even recognized. He came into His own and His
own received Him not. You would think that when the
Creator, the one who gives us life, breath, all that we have,
you would think that the world would have rejoiced. You would
think that the people would have been happy and joyful, but instead
it says we despised and rejected him. This shows that the whole world
is against our Lord. What do men have to rage about
concerning God? God is holy. What's wrong with
holy? The Word tells you absolutely
nothing. Holy is perfect. It's perfect. There's no flaw. There's no flaw
in God. There's no wrong in God. There's
no sin in God whatsoever. God is just. What's wrong with
just? When you deal with me or I deal
with you, we want each other to deal with each other in a
just way, don't we? I don't want you to cheat me or me to cheat
you. God is a just God. There's nothing wrong with just. God is love, the scripture says.
What's wrong with that? Merciful and gracious. God gives
men the air they breathe. It is his food they eat every
day. God's sun shines on the just
and the unjust. His rain falls on the just and
the unjust. It's His rain. It's His sunshine. It's His food we eat. All that
men have, God gave to them. Man's rage is unreasonable. Think about it. It's absolutely
unreasonable. What is there about God that
I should ever rage about? There's absolutely nothing. Even
when God takes from me, it's for my good. Is it not for your
good? The children of God, it's for your good. I never have a
reason, ever, when God's given to me or taken from me. I never
have a reason to be upset or angry, unless it's at myself. But never at God. Never at God. Why do the nations rage? Well, I'm going to give you three
reasons. First of all, and we covered some of this in the Bible
class, because the natural mind is enmity against God. No matter
how blessed a man is, his mind will still be enmity with God. When Christ went about doing
good, it upset, it upset the religious people. It upset the
Pharisees. When God, when God in Christ
healed, when he healed people of sickness and disease, they
got upset. Those Pharisees, those religious
leaders, they got mad. You know why? Because God did
it. Because God did it. Because there
is a natural enmity toward God. And no matter what it is, when
it's of God, and it's recognized to be of God, and it gives God
the glory, it makes men upset. I don't care how blessed a man
is, somewhere in his life he gets upset about something. He's
mad, he's angry. Here's what, here's what Every
man wants, by nature now, every man wants it by nature. No God
for me. No God for me. I know a lot of
people, I know most people are religious, but when you present
and when you preach God as he's revealed in this book, what's
their attitude? No. No. That's not my God. Well, that's the God of the Bible.
Secondly, man is born dead in trespasses and sins. Every last
one of us, when we were born into this world, spiritually
dead. No life whatsoever. Not the life
of God. Fleshly life, yes, but the life
of God, no. And because of that, we cannot
know God. Not naturally, not as we are.
We cannot know God. God is spirit and we are flesh. God is light. Man is darkness. God is truth. Scripture says
man is a lie. Darkness hates the light. Look
over in John chapter 3. John chapter 3. Look in verse 20. Look in verse 19. For this is the condemnation,
that light is coming to the world. You see, condemnation is not,
it's not all, it's not what I do. I'll be judged for those things,
you know, that'll add to a man's judgment. It's not because I
stole something. It's not because I lied. Here's
condemnation. Light is coming to the world
and men love darkness. You see, it's what I love. Men
love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.
For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light. That's why
they hated Jesus Christ. That's why they despised and
rejected Him. He said, I am the light. And He revealed to those
Pharisees their heart. He revealed to them, you are
just as wicked as those publicans and sinners. You're just as rotten
as they are. And it made them mad. No one
had ever said that before. Paul never said, oh wretched
man that I am, until God saved him. Until that time, he thought
he kept the law, he thought he was righteous, he thought he
was the best man in town. And he was the worst. He was
the worst. If I ask you, what is the greatest
sin? What would go across your mind?
What would you say? Murder? You'd pick out different,
if I asked you what's the greatest, what's the greatest command?
What did our Lord say the greatest commandment was to that young
man? To love God with all your heart,
all your soul, all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.
So what is the greatest sin? It's not to love God with all
your heart. It's not to love your neighbor
as yourself. It's not, you say, we're going to pick out murder.
No, the greatest of sins is not to love God and your neighbor
as yourself. That's the greatest. For everyone
that does evil, hateth the light, neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved or discovered. Discovered for
who they really are. This is who you really are. And
then thirdly, all men, high or low, rich or poor, educated or
uneducated, despise God's way of salvation. Despise it. Our Lord was said to be despised
and rejected of men, and Jesus Christ is God's way of salvation. He's the way. He didn't just
show us the way or tell us the way. He is the way. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. God's way of grace and not worse. God's sovereignty
and salvation. You know, we'll have God to be
sovereign in every area except Our house. Except my house. I believe it was Pink who said,
well, have God be sovereign in creation when creating the stars. We have to be sovereign in property,
but not in salvation. Not in choosing whom he will.
Well, he does. God saveth whom he will. If he didn't, nobody would be
saved. Because he said here, the darkness
will not come to the light. And we were all at one time darkness. We're all born in darkness. Therefore,
if God left us alone, we would leave him alone. He said one
time to the disciples, and you never, this is something you
never want God to say. He said to his disciples concerning
the Pharisees, they said to him, don't you know you offended them?
They were born offended. And he said, leave them alone. You never want God to leave you
alone. That's the worst thing that ever
happened. The worst. But it's not just
the nations, but even the kings of these nations and the rulers.
The rulers are the religious leaders. They're the biggest
culprits against Christ. the religious rulers the kings
of the earth set themselves absolutely determined and the rulers the
religious leaders take counsel together against the Lord and
against his anointed saying here's what they said let us break their
bands asunder and cast away their course from us They set themselves absolutely
determined to kill him. How many times do we read in
the gospel where they sought to kill the Lord Jesus Christ?
But he said, my hour has not yet come. My hour, you can't
touch me until my hour comes. And when my hour comes, I will
lay down my life. No man, no man taketh my life
from me. I lay it down of myself and I
take it up again. He said, this commandment have
I received of my father. If he had not laid his life down,
he could have never died. If he had not commanded his spirit,
he said, I commend my spirit. If he had not done that, he could
not die. He said, I lay it down. I voluntarily
willfully laid down my life for the sheep you God in a person
of his son dying for me that's what he did that's what he did we see all this happening in
the Gospels turn over to Acts chapter 4 Acts chapter 4, look in verse 25. It says, Who by the mouth of
thy servant David hath said, Why did the heathen rage, and
the people imagine vain, foolish, empty things? The kings of the
earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together against
the Lord and against His Christ. That's the only time those enemies,
I mean, the Pilate and the Jews, well, they were enemies, but
whenever it came to Christ, they joined together. They joined
together. But listen here. The kings of
the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together against
the Lord and against his Christ for of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate
who couldn't stand each other with the Gentiles and they couldn't
stand them and the people of Israel were gathered together.
Boy, they thought they was just going to have a heyday, didn't
they? They thought we put an end to this guy. Put an end to
it. and all they did for to do whatsoever
thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done." They didn't
even read the book. Pilate and Herod didn't sit down
and read the book and say, what do we do next? What scene are
we on? They didn't do that. They did what they wanted to
do. And in doing what they wanted
to do by their wicked heart, they did exactly what got purpose
to be done. It says over in Psalm 76, 10,
that man's wrath serves God's purpose and the rest he restrains. We see these things going across
this world. We see all the tumults and we
see the wrath that happens. It's like those towers coming
down. There's only so much allowed,
God allowed to be done, and then he stopped it. What did I just
read to you in Psalm 46? He maketh wars to cease. If he
didn't, they wouldn't. They would not stop if he didn't
make them stop. World War I still be going on,
and truly it still is. I mean, it just, war just keeps
going on. If it's not here, here, here,
or here, it's somewhere. But he makes them deceased for
a while. And you know why? For you and I to have some peace.
For you and I to live in this, we wouldn't be able to live in
this world if God did not make wars to cease. But in all these
wars, God's purpose is being accomplished. And someday we'll see it. We'll
go, ah, well I understand. When we have the mind of Christ, when this is over and we have
the mind of Christ, we'll understand. And one of the things we'll understand,
it could not have been any other way than the way God has purposed. You see, God's not stuck between
two opinions like you and I. You and I have tried to decide,
where do I go, right or do I go left? That's not the way it is
with the Lord. With the Lord, it's one way,
one purpose. And it can't be any other way,
because that's the way that's right. That's the way that's right. But here's what they want. Here's
what the kings and the rulers, here's what the nations want.
Here's what people in general want. Let us break their bands. The triune God. Let us break
their bands of sunder and cast away their cords from us. Let us break their authority. Do we not see that? But that's
been since the fall. There's nothing we hate more
than authority. There's nothing that makes you
more mad or more upset than when you are breaking the speed limit
and you get caught for it. Right? It makes me mad every
time. And I know I have no reason for
that. I know I have no reason to be
upset with anybody but me. But there is a natural tendency
in us to get upset with authority, even when we're caught for doing
something we shouldn't be doing. You know what makes a thief mad?
I can tell you something that makes a thief madder than anything,
when somebody steals from him. I'm telling you, it'll make him
madder than anything when somebody steals from him. They want that power. Man wants
that power that belongs to Jesus Christ alone. Man wants that
power that he has the authority and not somebody else over me. Man wants no restraints. I don't
think we've ever lived in a day where it's more obvious. Where
people want no restraints. Don't tell me what to do. Don't tell me how to spend my
money. Don't tell me what to do. No restraints. No punishment. Although they punish. That's what the natural man wants.
Look over in Psalm 10. Psalm 10. The Bible gives us
a very clear description of the human race. In Psalm 10, the wicked In verse four, the
wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek after
God. God is not in all his thoughts. God's not in his thoughts. Another
translation of that is, no God for me. Look over in Psalm 14. In Psalm 14, verse one, the fool,
has said in his heart, this is what goes on in a fool's heart,
there is no God. Now you take that word, there
is out, because that's been supplied by the translators. And it reads
like this, the fool has said in his heart, no God, no God. I'll be my own God. Isn't that
what Satan wanted? He wanted to be like God, he
wanted to be God. And that is naturally in every
one of us by nature. It's naturally there. Know God. They are corrupt. They've done
abominable works. There's none that doeth good.
The natural man wants to know God. Know God. But how is God
going to handle all this? All this rebellion? Well, it
says, he that sitteth in the heaven shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision
or confusion. God's response to all this is
He shall laugh. How laughable, really, now think
about it. How laughable is it when a man
or all men try to dethrone God? They don't even know where He
is. I had a man one time who got
upset with me over something, over the gospel or something.
And he was getting upset. I said, don't get upset with
me. This is the truth. I said, why don't you just take
your shotgun and walk outside and just shoot up, start shooting
up into heaven. I said, there's the one you're upset with. How laughable is it to think
that little peanuts like us are going to dethrone Almighty God? That's amazing. And notice God's position here.
In all this tumult, all this raging that's going on, it says,
He sitteth. Is that the way you act when
you get all upset? No, you and I get frustrated
and wringing our hands. He sitteth. At rest. Undisturbed. Heaven, which is
God's throne, is not in turmoil because of man's rebellion. He's
not in turmoil. There's no weapon formed against
God, against Christ or his church that shall stand. That's what
he says in Isaiah 54, 17. And he says, you'll have them
in derision. He'll mock them. God will let them set up their
artillery and then use it on themselves. Here's a perfect
example. Pharaoh gets a bright idea one
day. I'm gonna kill all the two-year-olds
of the Hebrews. I'm gonna kill them all. Just
kill them all, the two-year-olds and them. And so they go slaughter,
they start slaughtering. And Moses' mother takes Moses,
puts him in a basket, puts him in the water, and here's what
she does. She trusts God to take care of
that young boy. And it floats down and, you know,
gets into the bulrush. And this Pharaoh's daughter,
wonder how this happened. Pharaoh's daughter comes along
and she hears this crying baby. And she goes over, she looks
at him and she has compassion on this baby. And she picks him up. She takes
him home and she's going to keep this one. This little boy just
had her heart. And she takes him home and she
has a maid. And she said, go find me one
of the Hebrew women that can nurse him. Because she couldn't
nurse him. She wasn't able to do that. She
said, go find a Hebrew woman that could nurse him. So what
she do? She goes and finds and gets Moses' mother. And then she raises him. And
then he goes and he's raised in the Pharaoh's house. Pharaoh
raised his own destroyer. There's the wisdom of God. Another
story in Esther, Mordecai, or Amon, hated Mordecai, didn't
he? He hated Mordecai. So he makes
this plot, this plan, where, you know, everybody's got to
bow to this king and give him all his glory, and Mordecai doesn't
do it. But he has his plan. He knows he won't do it. He knows
he's faithful to God. He knows he's not going to do
it, so he builds a gallows. He's going to hang him. I'm going
to hang him? But you know what happened at
the end of that story, just to keep it short? Haman, who made that
noose to hang Mordecai on, was hanged on it himself. I'll have them in derision. They put Christ to death. They
said, let's put him to death. Let's get rid of this man. We
will not have this man reign over us. We'll hang him on a
cross. We'll put an end to him. Where
is he at now? Seated on the throne. He's seated
on the throne. Reigning over them right now.
Can you imagine when they died? When those men that put him to
death, that consented to his death, Can you imagine when they
died and they saw him? They said, oh, oh, he's not dead. We're in trouble. Then shall
he speak unto them, and his wrath infects them in his sword is
pleasure. When men have played their games long enough, God's
gonna speak. God's gonna speak. He's gonna bring judgment. There
is such a thing as judgment, you know. We see that in the flood, we
see it in Sodom and Gomorrah, and we see it at Calvary. There
is judgment. But look what God says here,
let me close this. Yet have I sent my king past
tense. Well, I didn't get a vote in
that. Did y'all vote in that? I didn't get any vote. No, it was done before you and
I had the right to vote. God said, yet have I set my king,
past tense, upon my holy hill of Zion, the church. This is
where he reigns from, the church. In spite of man's rebellion,
in spite of man's approval or disapproval, God said, I've set
my king. This is set, this is done. The
kings of the earth set themselves. Well, that didn't go anywhere,
did it? But God said, I set my king, and he's still there. And
he always will be. Man's rage cannot stop God's
purpose. Jesus Christ is king forever. And he says, I'll declare the
decree. This is the Lord speaking. This is the Son of God speaking.
I will declare the decree. The Lord has said to me, I have
his approval. I have his anointing. He said
to me, this day have I begotten thee. He is the son of God. They said, we know you, you're
the carpenter's son. You don't know anything. He's
God's son. He's God's son. He never was
Joseph's son. Not by birth. Christ said, as I hear, I speak. And the decree that was settled
before the foundation of the world is what he speaks. This matter of the rule and reign
of Jesus Christ, God and man mediator, was settled long, long
ago. That's settled. That matter is
settled. That's why he said, this matter of Christ being the
king and the ruler and the reigner, they said, we'll not have this
man reign over us. No, well, that's just too bad.
This matter is settled. Christ is the king. Ask me! The father just says to him,
ask me! And I'll give you the heathen for that inheritance.
I'm looking at his inheritance. The nation, the gentiles. And
the uttermost parts of the earth for that possession, it all belongs
to him. There's not a particle that exists that does not belong
to Jesus Christ. And the father says, just ask
me, and it's yours. He gets everything he asked for.
Christ intercedes for that which he was promised, and he gets
it. Thou shalt break them with a
rod of iron, judgment is coming. Thou shalt dash them in pieces
like a potter's vessel. Every knee's gonna bow. I assure
you, I assure you that every knee's gonna bow. And every tongue's
gonna confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. His reign is absolute. It's absolute. And I'm gonna close with the
voice of the preacher. Be wise now. Be wise now. Be wise, therefore, O ye kings.
Therefore, as you're looking back to what he just said, be
instructed, you judges of the earth. You cannot take on Almighty
God when when As I've heard Henry say so many
times, lay down your shotgun. Lay down your shotgun now. And be you reconciled to God. Listen to his preacher. Listen
to his word. Listen to his gospel. Believe
on him and bow. Bow to the high king of heaven. Bow to him. God's long suffering,
but there's an end to that. There's an end to it. Be wise
and do this. Serve the Lord with fear and
rejoice with trembling. One writer wrote this. Rejoicing
without fear is presumption. Fear without rejoicing is despair.
Put both together and you have worship. You have worship. It all comes down to this. It's
all coming down to this. Kiss the Son. Be wise. Be you reconciled to God. Kiss
the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish from the way. Many
have, many have. When His wrath is kindled but
a little, blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.
Bow to the King of Heaven. Bow to the King of Zion. Embrace
the Son of God as Lord and Savior in that order. I'm not asking anybody to accept
Jesus as a personal savior. Bow to the Lord Jesus Christ. Bow to him as Lord and Savior. I'd do it again. This day I bow
to him as Lord and Savior. My Lord and Savior. Lest he be
angry just a little. You don't want that side of Christ.
Lest he be angry just a little. The translation of this is, lest
his nostrils flare just a little. You ever seen somebody mad? I
mean, really mad? Nostrils flare out. He said,
lest his nostrils flare just a little. Blessed, happy, happy
are they that put their trust in him. You trust him. Boy, you're blessed. You are
blessed. And your happiness hasn't really
even begun yet. You're really going to be happy
when it's over. Blessed are all they that put
their trust in Him. I trust Jesus Christ to save
me completely when it's all over. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed, and I am persuaded that he's able to keep that which
I've committed unto him against that day. Kiss the son. Kiss the son. And you'll be happy. You will
be happy. Peace.