Come back to Psalm 2. David is the writer of this psalm. We know that from Acts chapter
4, and as David writes this psalm
and all the other psalms He's writing from experience, things
that he's experiencing at that time, and yet he's writing about
the Lord Jesus Christ, speaking of him. You see, David is the
king. Saul did not want David to be
king. Even his father lined up all
his other sons. Jesse lined up all his sons.
He thought David was surely not the king. And he sent David out
to keep the sheep while Samuel came and went through the lineup.
He lined up all the sons of Jesse. Of course, Samuel, still being
a man, he saw the first one tall, dark, and handsome. He said,
oh, this has got to be the king. Well, it wasn't. David's the
king. And then David, the king, who's
going to be king, an anointed king, He ends up running from
Saul, living in caves. So he's writing from experience.
And he's saying, why do the heathen rage? They don't want me to be
king. They've all set themselves against me, but I'm the king.
Even his own son Absalom was against him. But God made him
king. But David was a type of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he's the one this is ultimately
speaking of. And he says here, why do the
heathen rage? And the people imagine a vain
thing as if they could stop this, as if they could bring this to
nothing, as if they could stop God's purpose. Why do they rage? Why do the heathen rage? A heathen,
now listen, a heathen is anyone of the sons of Adam that does
not believe God. That's a heathen. He's one who
does not believe God. And he's saying here, why do
they rage against God? And I thought about this as I
looked at this portion of Scripture. Why do the heathen rage against
God who's holy? Who in a right mind would rage
against holiness? That's perfection without sin. Who would rage against holiness?
Who would rage against one who is just? Do you like just people? Do you like someone who deals
with you justly? If you're doing a transaction with them, you
don't want anything underhanded going on, do you? No. Why do they rage against one
who is holy and just and one who is loved and merciful and
gracious? Look at the life of our Lord
as He walked on this earth. Gracious, merciful, compassionate. He had compassion on the multitude,
55,000. That's men, not counting the women and children. It could
have been 10,000, 15,000 people. He had compassion on them, and
yet he was despised and rejected of men. Why do they rage? Why do they rage? They take a
deep breath. They draw in a deep breath and
curse God who just gave them the breath, who breathed into
the nostrils the breath of life. God did. God did. They sat at their tables and
they ate food, good food, and they cursed God who gave them
the food. It bites the hand that feeds it. Why do they rage? Why
do the heathen rage? Everything that men have, God
gave it to them. Is that so? God gave us everything
we have. He gave us our intellect. that
we could study and learn and know how to work and do what
we do, God gave it to us. So he says, why do they rage?
This is the great question. Why do the heathen rage? Someone
said this, because they're ignorant of God's character. I really
think it's this, after thinking about it. Now, that's true. They're
ignorant of God's true character. They really do not know God.
But I think it's more this, they hate God's character. They hate
God's character. You can take in school, you take
the girl in school, who does not sleep around, not out doing
drugs, not out doing a lot of things, and she'll be the one
that's most picked at. She'll be the one most picked
at, because they hate that character. That's why they hate God. That's
why they rage. They hate the character of God. They hate God who is holy. They
hate God who is just. They hate God's sovereign mercy.
They hate sovereign mercy. Oh, they don't hate mercy if
you put it in their hands, because they can use it whenever they
want. But they hate sovereign mercy. And then this, because
the natural mind is enmity against God. As to what it says in Romans
8, 7, the natural mind is enmity. It doesn't say the natural mind
is at enmity. It is enmity. It is pure enmity
against God. No matter how blessed, no matter
how blessed a man is, no matter how much he possesses, he's still
enmity against God, unless God Unless God calls him by his grace,
unless God regenerates him, that man will live and die. I don't
care if he's Bill Gates. He'll live and die enmity against
God. That's Bible. Every man, every
woman is born that way. Enmity against God. And until
he breaks that man, we'll see this, he'll break that man with
a rod of iron. Until he breaks and brings you
by the gospel. We will stay that way. Enmity. The natural mind
is enmity against God. And then secondly, man is born
dead in trespasses and sins. Just dead to God. Do not know God. No knowledge
of God. Not true knowledge. Oh, they
believe there is a God. But to know Him is different.
It's different. And then man despises God's way
of salvation. This is why the heathen rage. They despise God's way of salvation. Christ was despised and rejected
of men. And he said, I am the way, I
am the truth, I am the life. They despise God's way, which
is Christ. Grace alone, Christ alone. His
blood alone, His righteousness alone. The heathen, the unbeliever,
despises that. And even the kings of the earth
despise him. Listen, the kings of the earth
set themselves. Now they are just bent, the old
word, bent upon, bent upon destroying him. The reason I want to bring
this psalm is because of what we're about to go through in
Matthew. We are going to see this. The kings of the earth,
Herod, Pontius Pilate, the rulers and the Gentiles and the people
all set themselves against him. The kings of the earth set themselves
and the rulers they counseled together against the Lord, the
Lord of glory, Jehovah, and against His anointed, Jesus Christ. They set themselves determined
to kill Him, determined to put an end to Him, thinking that
if they crucify Him, this will be the end of this man. This
is God's anointed. This man, Jesus Christ, is His
anointed, and He's despised and rejected, and they think they're
going to kill Him and do away with Him. It is dangerous, it is dangerous
when the rulers set themselves, kings, people in authority set
themselves against the truth. Christ said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. when they set themselves against
God, when they set themselves against Jesus Christ, want nothing
to do with Him. That nation is gone that sets
itself against the Lord and against His Christ, unless He has just
purposed to reach in and show mercy. And here's what the kings
and rulers, here's what they want. Here's what they want.
Here's what they say. Let us break their bands asunder. and cast away their cords from
us. Look over in Psalm 14. Psalm
14. The fool has said in his heart,
and you can just apply that to heathen, has said in his heart, First he says no to God. No,
God. No. This is the way I want it. This is the way I'm going to
do it. You know, man, here's the gospel of God's sovereign grace. No!
That's not the way it is. I had a man tell me. No, that's
not it. That's not so. That's not the way God is. Someone
said to Ralph Barnard one time, your God's a monster. Ralph said,
well, you get ready to meet a monster. They're not going to say no,
but the heathen says, no God. They are corrupt. They have not
done abominable works. There is none that do us good. They're saying, no God, no God
for me. I don't want anyone ruling over me. Here's what they're
saying. Break their authority. Let us
break their authority asunder. Let us break the authority of
the Lord. Let us break their authority.
Let us break their control over us. So that's what the kings
of the earth did. And they say that the Jews, we
will not have this man reign over us. Did they not say that? They want to break their authority
and break their control. They want that power. Now, listen,
this is so obvious after you understand the gospel. They want
that power. That sovereign power, that sovereign
right that belongs to Christ, they want it for themselves.
First of all, the heathen, they want no restraints. Boy, don't we see that in this
country? Just no restraints. No punishment. No punishment. That's what, no punishment from
God. Not accountable to God, no God. Although they punish
and they restrain. Men deny God what they want. How foolish, how foolish it is
to think that a natural man, a worm as God calls him, a worm,
can restrain God, can dethrone God who's in the heavens. How
foolish. And I think that's why he's saying
here in this verse, why do the heathen rage? Don't they have
any sense? Are they that stupid? They would say, is man that stupid
that he can restrain God? That he can hold back the power
of God? That he can dethrone God? That
he can annul God's decrees and God's judgment? Oh, my soul,
he says, is that so foolish? So foolish. You know, they were
trying to keep David, Saul was trying to keep David from being
king. Are you that foolish? If God anointed me king, I'm
going to be king. If God anointed me king, I am
king. I am king. He that sitteth in the heavens,
God said over in Psalm 115, God is in the heavens. He hath done
whatsoever he will. Heaven is my throne, he said.
He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. It's hard to imagine that, but
he's saying here, and he's getting it across here. This is so ridiculous. It is so ridiculous for the heathen
to rage against God and against his Christ that it's almost humorous. He that sitteth in the heavens
shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision. He will hold them in contempt
and they'll be held in confusion. Look over in Isaiah 40. Look in verse 21. Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from
the beginning? Have you not understood from
the foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the
circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers, grasshoppers, that stretcheth out the heavens
as a curtain and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in, that
bringeth the princes to nothing. This is the one you're raging
against now. He's saying here, this is who you are raging against.
He maketh judges of the earth as vanity. Yea, they shall not
be planted. Yea, they shall not be sown.
Yea, their stocks shall not take root in the earth. And he shall
also blow upon them, and they shall wither. That's all he has
to do. Just a... That's all he has to do. Blow
upon them. And they shall wither. I watched
on the History Channel Back in the 20s, they had a dust bowl
and had that big cloud. It showed, and it was an amazing
thing to see. It showed all this big, looking
behind this house, there is nothing but this wall of black dust coming
across. And it ends up all the way to
Washington during that period of time. And it showed all those
people that They just live with masks on and stuff out there,
but all you see is this great big black wall of nothing but
dust. You can't see no end to it. And He shall also just blow upon
them. That's God just blowing. And they shall wither, and the
whirlwind shall take them away. The hurricane shall come. Katrina. Whatever name you want to stick
on it. The whirlwind shall come and take them away. To whom then
will you liken me? Or shall I be equal, saith the
Holy One? Lift up your eyes on high, and
behold, who hath created these things? Who did these things?
Who made these things that you see, that bringeth out their
host by number? He called them all by names by
the greatness of His might, for that He is strong in power. Not
one faileth. Not one. That's who they're raging against. And God says, here's His response. I shall laugh. I shall laugh. That'd be like me trying to take
a fly swat and defeat Napoleon's army. You'd think he'd laugh
at me. You'd think he'd tremble. You'd think he'd go to his tent
and tremble. God sits in the heaven. Heaven is my throne. Earth, he said, is my footstool. Earth is my footstool. He shall
laugh how laughable it is when a man or all men try to dethrone
God or dethrone Christ. Notice God's position here. He
said it. Now, you know, if somebody is
going to come against me, if I have any kind of concern, I'm
going to get up. I'm going to get up and I'm going
to see what's going on. I'm going to plot and plan and
try to figure out how to deal with this thing. It says here,
he laughs and he sits. Laughs and he sits. He sitteth. That's continual. It's one thing
to sit, but that sitteth means just continual repose. Continual. At rest. Undisturbed. Undisturbed. Heaven, which is
God's throne, is not in turmoil because man is, or because God's
enemies are in turmoil. He's not. He's not. There is
no weapon formed against God or his church that shall stand. None. He said, I will do all
my pleasure. My counsel shall stand and I
will do all my pleasure. But I'm going to have them in,
he says, in derision. He's going to mock them. He's going to bring
them into contempt. I'll have them in derision. For
400 years, Israel was in Egypt. And Pharaoh said one time, who's
the Lord that I should obey him? Can you say that? Who's the Lord
that I should obey him? And so he thinks, Pharaoh thinks,
I'm going to kill all these firstborns of Egypt. I'm going to kill them
all. Well, Moses's mother puts him in a little basket, puts
him in the water, in the river. And you think about this, puts
her son in a river. Could you go down and put your
son in a little baby, a little baby, that little baby and put
her in a river, a little basket. And there she floats down the
river. And guess who finds her? Pharaoh's daughter. And she takes
him back home and Pharaoh raises up his own destroyer. I'll have
them in derision. Haman, in the book of Esther. He hates the Jews. He hates,
he hates, he especially hates Mordecai. Despises Mordecai. So he comes up with this great
game plan. And he's going to have this real,
everybody's going to worship the king. They're going to bow
down and enforce it. He knows Mordecai is not going to do that. You
know, this man's faithful to his God. So he schemes this plan,
and then the ones who don't do it, they've got to be hanged,
you see. Well, guess who got hung? Haman. He was hanged on the noose that
he made for Mordecai. He said, I'll have them in derision.
Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath. in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure. Turn over to Psalm 33. Psalm 33. Look in verse 8. Let all the
earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the
world stand in awe of him, for he what? spake, and it was done. He commanded, and it stood fast. The Lord bringeth the counsel
of the heathen to nought, he maketh the devices of the people
of none effect. The counsel of the Lord standeth
forever, the thoughts of his hearts to all generations. Oh,
He spake and it stood fast. It was established. When men have played their games
long enough, God will speak. And all that He needs to do is
speak. He does not need to rise up.
He does not need to grab an army. He does not need to call a host
of angels. He just speaks His Word. He can just take the breath out
of a man right now. Take his life. Take his life. You know, the heart that beats
in your body and mine is not what keeps me living. It's the
life God put in here that keeps me living. And when He calls
that life out, that heart will stop beating. Life is not in the mechanical
parts of the body. Even though God gives these things
and makes them all work together in life, in sustaining life. But He breathed into them the
breath of life. That heart didn't beat until
He did that. And that heart will stop beating when He calls that
life out and He takes it away. All He needs to do is speak.
His Word alone is enough to wipe out the whole creation. There is such a thing as wrath. In the Bible, in the flood, Sodom
and Gomorrah, in Calvary, we see it. But listen here, why do the heathen
rage? Why do they set themselves? Why
are they against God? God said, He that sitteth in
the heavens shall laugh. He'll have them in derision.
He's going to speak to them in wrath. He's going to vex them
in his sword of displeasure. Yet have I said, Haven't done
a thing. The heathen has not done a thing
to God. Yet have I sent my King upon
my holy hill of Zion, the church, Christ. Yet have I established
before creation, before the world began, I established Christ as
King. What did the shepherds say when
they came? to marry him when they came to her. Where is he
that is born king? He's not waiting on his father
to die so he can be a king. He's born king. This man was
born king. It is written he's king of the
Jews. He's king of kings and lord of lords. Yet have I set
my king I have established my king and he reigns and he rules
out of Zion. See, every king has a throne. Every king has a kingdom and
a place from where he rules. He rules everything out of the
church. Out of the church. Now the king speaks, verse 7,
I will declare the decree. This is what he came to do. When
he came into this world, he came to declare the eternal decree
of God. He came to declare the eternal
decree of that covenant of grace. He said, I will declare the decree.
The Lord has said unto me, thou art my son. This day have I begotten
thee. He's the King. It's been decreed. And He's declared the decree.
I will declare, He said, the decree. The greatest preacher
ever lived on this earth, walked on this earth was Jesus Christ. He's the greatest. He's the Prince
of Preachers. I know we call Spurgeon the Prince
of Preachers, and he's a great preacher, but Christ is the Prince
of Preachers. You go over in Isaiah 61 and
you'll see where he was called to preach glad tidings. Christ said, as I hear I speak.
The decree that was settled before the foundation of the world is
what he speaks. That's what he speaks. This matter,
listen, this matter of the rule and reign of the Lord Jesus Christ,
this matter of the redemptive glory of Christ, this matter
of salvation by Christ and Christ alone is the decree and it was
set, it was decreed by God and settled before the foundation
of the world. And that's what he came to declare.
And the message hasn't changed. The message is still the same.
His decree will not change. Ask of Me!" Oh, the Father calls
His Son into this covenant of grace, and He says, Ask of Me,
and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance. Every
believer here is an inheritance with the Lord Jesus Christ. And
I'm telling you this, He asked for you. He asked. Ask of me, if I gave you that
option, and I had the power to do a few things, and I say, ask
of me, what would you ask? Would you ask for a heathen?
A pagan? Would you ask for the life of
your enemy? Would you ask for one who rejects and despises
you? One who hates you? Would you
marry someone? Would you fall in love with someone
that just hated you to no end? Ask of me, and I'll give you
the heathen. And I'm looking at some. I'm
looking at some heathens that's been given to him, brought to
him, and he has sure made a difference. He has sure made a difference.
He is for the asking. Son, they're yours for the asking.
He said in one place, Father, I pray for them which thou hast
given me. I ask for them. I ask for them. Everything that
belongs to the Father, He gave everything over to His Son. Everything
that belonged to Him, He gave to His Son. Ask of me. Oh, ask of me. Remember the message
from last week, for Christ's sake. That's right. You're His. He asked for you.
He's asked for your forgiveness. He's asked for your pardon. He's
asked for your justification. He's asked for your sanctification.
He's asked for your redemption. He's asked that you be with Him
where He is, that you may behold His glory when all this is over.
Ask me. And He has. And I'll tell you
why. You'll be there. You'll be there. If you believe on Him. If He's
brought you to faith. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron,
thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." He has
been given, he said, all power and all authority has been given
to me in heaven and earth. He has, this man, this man, this
God man, this mediator, Jesus Christ, has all power. He said,
all power has been given to me over all flesh, over in John
17. So he has the power. He has the
power to break you this morning. He has the power to break you
by the gospel, by grace, by His Spirit. He has the power to break
and bring sinners to His feet. The heathen who despise and hate
Him, He has the power to break them and bring them to His feet.
He has the power to bring them home. And He has the power to
put you in hell. He has the power to do it. He's the judge of the quick and
the dead. The gospel dashes all our hopes
but Christ, and He has the power to do that this morning. He can crush us this morning,
listen, He can absolutely crush us with divine love, or He can
crush us under His divine wrath and be a just God, whichever
He does. Every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. I want to do it here. I want
to do it now. Now. And then listen, here's the preacher.
Be wise now therefore, the preacher is speaking. Be wise now therefore.
O ye kings, you rulers, be instructed, you judges of the earth. Be wise,
you cannot take on the Almighty and win. He that sets himself
against God shall not prosper. No way, no way. Listen to his
preacher, listen to his word, listen to his gospel and believe
on him. Be wise and fall at his feet and sue for mercy. That's
what he said, be wise. My soul, you know, He could not
say anything just like you meet Him. How would you like to drive
down the road and the bridge is out and nobody tell you? You're
going over. But He says here, here's His
gracious call. Be wise. Therefore, be warned. Forewarned is what? Forearmed. You can meet Him in grace or
you can meet Him in judgment. Listen to Him. Bow to Him. That would be wise. That would
be wise. God is long-suffering, but there
is an end to that long-suffering. Serve the Lord. Here He is. Be
wise. Be instructed. Serve the Lord. Serve the Lord. We're not our
own. We've been bought with a price, and even those who've not bought
with it are His still. He bought all of it. It's all
His. There's those who've been bought
by His blood for redemption, but I'm telling you this. He
owns it all. He created it all and He bought it all. It's all
His. All of it. Serve the Lord with fear and
rejoice with trembling. Now I want you to get this. Rejoicing without fear is presumption. Rejoicing without fear is presumption. Fear without rejoicing is torment. But put both together and you
have worship. You have worship. Fear and trembling. I'm telling you something, it's
an awesome thing to deal with God. It is an awesome, awesome
thing to die and go into the presence of Almighty God. Awesome. What did I read to you in Psalms?
Stand in what? All. Stand in all of Him. Then here's the last thing. Be
wise now. Be wise. This is it. Kiss the
Son, the One whom He has set upon His holy hill Zion, this
King whom He has established, this One whom the heathen rage
against and the rulers have set themselves against the Lord and
against Christ, His anointed One. You better kiss Him. Embrace Him. Hug up to Him. Kiss the Son lest He be angry
and you perish from the way. And I got this from somebody. In this, lest He be angry and
you perish from the way when His wrath is kindled but a little.
You ever see when somebody gets mad their nostrils flare out?
Their nostrils flare out just a little? And that's why he's saying, lest
his nostrils flare just a little and he's, and it's over with. It's over with. Bow to the King
of Zion. Embrace the Son of God as Lord,
listen, as Lord and Savior in that order. In that order. Lest he be angry. You don't want
to deal with this side of Christ. You know, my father, you know,
raised us, we had a good father, raised us, but there's one side
of him you didn't want to deal with. The one side, and I'm sure
you raised, you had parents, and there's one side of that
parent you didn't want to deal with. He is a gracious God. He's merciful. He likes to show
mercy, compassionate. He had compassion on the multitude.
But there's also another side. He's a just God. He will by no
means clear the guilty. And that side you don't want
to deal with. You don't want to deal with it. Blessed are they that put their
trust in Him. Oh, how blessed you are this
morning, if you truly, if you truly, from your heart, trust
the Lord Jesus Christ for all that you need to stand before
God Almighty. If He's in, add nothing, subtract
nothing. He's it. Oh, you're blessed. You're blessed. If you have kissed the Son, if
you have embraced the Son, you are greatly blessed because not
everyone has. Many, many, many, many people
hear the Gospel and walk out and have nothing to do with Him
week after week. One day, one day they face it.
One day they realize this man's real. I have never heard of someone
dying. Never heard of someone dying.
That the thought does not go through my mind. Now they know
who God is. Whether saved or lost, I don't,
you know. Now they know who God is. One day I'll die. And one
day I will see, I will face, God Almighty. I will look into
the face of Jesus Christ. It's what we read about, speak
about. Well, I want a heart to kiss Him now. I want a heart
to embrace Him now. Now. Bow to Him now. Embrace Him now.
There's no king like the king of Zion. Oh, why do you rage? He said. Why do you rage? There's
no king like this king. He delights to show mercy. He's
a friend of sinners. Friend of sinners. Kiss the sun. Kiss the sun. All right, my friends.