For our scripture reading this
morning, turn with me to Psalm chapter 2. If you have a marker,
you can put it there. I'll be coming back to Psalm
2 with the message here in just a little bit. Why do the heathen rage, 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. What's their problem? 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 bets them in his sore displeasure. Yet have
I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree
The Lord hath said unto me, thou art my son, this day have I begotten
thee. Ask of me, and I'll give thee
the heathen for thine inheritance. Now wait a minute, the heathen's
raging, aren't they? What's gonna make them quit? God is. Ask of me, I'll give
you 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 the 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 sun. lest he be angry,
and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. I invite you this morning to
turn back with me to Psalm chapter 2. I think about things in my study
I told Yvonne sometimes I may appear moody. It'll make you
moody. You begin to contemplate on these
things. And I was thinking this morning
as I was reading over my notes that my interest this morning
is threefold. Three things I desire. First and foremost, to honor
God. in the preaching of the gospel. Under God, I don't want to preach
a gospel dishonoring to him. It weighs so heavy on my heart. I don't want to say things and
then two hours from now say, oh, I wish I hadn't said that. The gospel is a person. The Lord Jesus Christ. And the
gospel is called the way. The way. The way God saves sinners
is through His Son. And believers are justified freely
by His grace through the redemption that's in His Son. How does He
do it? Through faith in His blood. What's
that mean? That means you're convinced that
His blood is sufficient. His death is sufficient to save
your soul. God set him forth and God did
this to declare himself just and justifier of all those that
believe. He said very pointedly, I am
the way. And as clearly and plainly as
I can, I want to point needy sinners to Christ. I have no
desire whatsoever to impress anybody, not that I ever had,
but that's not my desire. I don't want you to leave here
and say, man, what a preacher. No. I want you to leave here
and say, man, what a Savior. What a Savior. The gospel is called the means
to recover lost sinners. Listen to this verse in 2 Samuel
14, 14. This is the woman from Tekoa. 2 Samuel 14, 14. For we must needs
die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered
up again. Neither doth God respect any
person, yet doth he devise means that his banished be not expelled
from him. The gospel is God's means. It pleased God through the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. There's no reason for
any man to wander around wondering how God won't save sinners. He
saves sinners. He calls sinners. He enlightens
sinners through the preaching of the gospel. And we live in an age of endless
speculation, vain imaginations of how God saves sinners. And
this one verse ought to silence ignorant men forever. He said,
for after that in the wisdom of God, this is God's wisdom,
this is God's way, God's purpose. After that in the wisdom of God,
the world by wisdom knew not God. Have they tried? Sure they have. Have they speculated? Sure they have. Did they theorize? Every day. But the world by wisdom
knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe. It pleased God. Why would I want
to go some other way? That's pretty plain, isn't it? This is the means God has ordained
to recover his banished, and God never changes. All those
good and perfect gifts over there in James 1 that he talks about,
they come down From above, they come down from the Father of
lights, with whom is no wearableness, neither shadow of turning." God's
not going to change. So first and foremost, I want
to honor God in the preaching of the gospel. And then secondly,
I want to see chosen sinners reconciled to God. I don't want
men to leave here shaking their head in anger. I want men to
be reconciled to God. Oh, what a joy it is to see a
man that God convinces of sin. Convinces him of righteousness.
Not he is, or not that there is one, but of a righteousness
given to him. A righteousness sufficient to
satisfy God. And judgment. Not that there's
going to be one. You know there's going to be
one. Your conscience tells you there's going to be one. but
of judgment satisfied. Oh, my soul. What rejoicing we ought to have
that we can look forward to a judgment already satisfied. I want to see chosen sinners
reconciled to God. In 2 Corinthians 5.18, Paul tells
us that all things are of God. Are you listening? who hath reconciled
us to himself by Jesus Christ. This is a reconciliation already
accomplished. It's already done. He hath, hath,
by the sacrifice of Christ over 2,000 years ago, reconciled us
to God. He reconciled us to Himself by
Jesus Christ, and He's given to us the ministry of reconciliation. The reconciliation of God's elect. What is it? Well, He made peace
through the blood of His cross to reconcile all things to Himself. By Him, I say, whether they be
things on earth or things in heaven. And you that were sometime
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
as he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to
present you holy, you can't look yourself in the mirror and see
a holy man, can you? But through this reconciliation
he hath made us holy. Listen to this, unblameable. And this is beyond my wildest
imagination, unreprovable in his sight. He that sees everything
sees nothing. He can't find anything. Our reconciliation
is accomplished in Christ and the ministry of reconciliation
is to reconcile us to his reconciliation. That's what it means. I get on
God's side. I get on God's side in my own
damnation. That's what David did. But thou
mayest be clear when thou judgest. God ought to send me to hell.
He got every reason to send me to hell. We get on God's side
in this thing. We're reconciled to his reconciliation. I see the necessity of Christ's
death. I see why he had to go to the
cross. I see what he had to accomplish
by going there. I'm reconciled to his reconciliation. I'm reconciled to the fact that
I have to have a righteousness, I can't produce one. That's what
the ministry, it's to point you to Christ, it's to reconcile
you to an accomplished reconciliation. That's the ministry. And I long
to see the faces of chosen sinners when the Holy Ghost convinces
them of sin and His righteousness and that judgment satisfied.
And to see that red face of anger and then to see it melt like
butter when the power of the Holy Ghost begins to convince
them of sin. Oh, I'm as sure for hell as if
I was already there. You ever been there? Oh, my soul. And then to see
them when God convinces them of the righteousness of Christ.
His forgiveness and mercy and grace in Christ. Now all of a
sudden that anger disappears and the tears roll down my cheeks. their tears of joy, hear their
testimonies. Paul called the Philippians dearly
beloved, longed for, and his joy increased. And then thirdly, I want to know
and not overstep my bounds. Preachers are to preach. You hear me? They're to preach.
They're not entertainers. They're not counselors. They're
preachers. They're to preach, to declare,
to testify the grace of God, and then sit down. It's not a sales pitch where
the seller needs to close the deal. Salvation is not mine to give. I don't have it in my hand. I
can't give it to you. I can point you to Him who does. And mine is to point you to Christ
and then wait and see what God will do. Salvation is of the Lord. He
has in the past been pleased to save some and I have every
reason to believe He'll continue to do so. I wouldn't preach if
I didn't believe that. When God called his last saint
in, this world's done. It's through. It's over. He'll
wrap this place up in an instant. But let me tell you something.
I have no guarantee that he'll save you. I have no guarantee. But I guarantee you this. If
he does, this is how he's going to do it. He that heareth, heareth. How shall you hear without a
preacher? How are you going to call on him whom you have not
heard? How are you going to hear without a preacher? How is he
going to preach if God don't send him? Listen to this. Paul said, who
is Paul? He just stated what I read to
you out of 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 2, he tells you,
we've not received the spirit of this world, but the spirit
which is of God, that we might show you the things freely given
to you of God. Then he gets over here in chapter
3. And he said, who then is Paul? Who is Apollos? Were ministers,
now watch this, by whom you believed. Even as the Lord gave to every
man. God has a preacher for every
one of his elect. He has a preacher. He's going
to bring them together and they're going to hear. That's assuring
to me as a preacher. God has a people. He's going
to save them. How's he going to do it? Through
the preaching of the gospel. Now with these things in mind,
I want you to listen to the leading question in this song. Why do the heathen rage and the
people imagine a vain thought? Why is that? God's made full
provision for all who believe. He not required one thing of
you, Winston. God made an everlasting covenant
of grace, appointed his son as our surety, a covenant, David
said, ordered and all things ensured. God sent his son into
this world as a federal head and representative for his people
to accomplish their redemption. He came to purchase our freedom,
pay our debt to God, and cover us with his righteousness, and
so he did. Having accomplished our redemption,
God raised him from the dead, declaring our full, free, perfect
justification before God. Delivered for our offences, raised
again for our justification. And then he ascended into glory
where he was seated at the right hand of God to make effectual
intercession for us. What's that mean? He gets what
he asks for. That's what that means. What's he asked for? I would
that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am. You reckon God's gonna allow
that? He makes effectual intercession for us. Will that man hear the
gospel? Lord, I would that they hear.
You reckon that's effectual? Oh, my soul. If we sin, Somebody
said that should read when. When we sin, we're going to sin.
If we sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the righteous. And from His glorious throne
of grace, He orders all things for our good and His glory. Nothing's
left to chance or circumstance. And has sent to us the Holy Spirit
to show us, reveal to us, and enable us to obtain that which
he accomplished. Why then do men rage? Why do they get so upset at something
so free, so merciful, so gracious, so kind? Why do the heathen As often as the scripture has
been read and expounded, as often as this gospel has been preached,
why do men get offended and angry and imagine a vain thing? That's
what he's saying here. They imagine a God who will tolerate
sin. God doesn't tolerate sin out
of anybody. They imagine a God who can simply
forgive and forget. That's what a man told me one
time at a Nazarene church. Preacher got up, had a blackboard,
and he said, this is stealing, and he made a mark, and this
is whatever. He was going down the lower,
and he marked. He got a bunch of marks on there.
He said, this is salvation. He took an eraser. That ain't
salvation. Sin has to be paid for. Every transgression must receive
a due recompense of the war. Every sin has to be paid for. Man imagines a God who can simply
forgive and forget. They imagine a God who will accept
whatever the sinner decides to give him, whatever it is. They imagine salvation to come
in whispers in the night, dreams and visions, supernatural gifts
and experiences. They imagine a God that loves
everybody. wants to save everybody, but
some won't let him. They imagine a God that has a
character like unto theirs. People rage and imagine a vain
thing. They rage when they hear the
truth because it runs contrary to their vain imaginations. That's
why they rage. Natural men walk in the vanity
of their minds, and as it was in the days of Noah, so it is
today. Every imagination of man is only
evil continually. What kind of imagination? He's
talking about God. That's what he's talking about.
Man's imaginations toward God. What are they angry at? Why are
they so filled with enmity? Because God ordained to save
chosen sinners through the doing and dying of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and that's contrary to their thoughts and reason. That's why. The kings of the earth set themselves
and the rulers, we're talking about the hierarchy of the world,
we're talking about the wise men of the world, men in power. The kings of the earth set themselves
and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against
his anointed. Oh, I thought they was angry
at me. No, they're only angry at you because they're angry
at him and they can't get to him. They can get to me. They can land-bash me. They can
put me out of their fellowship. They can do this and they can
do that, but they can't get to him. But he's the reason for
it. They take counsel. against the
Lord and against His anointed, saying, let's break their bands.
We're not going to have this man rule over us. That's the problem. Isn't it? Why? You stay home and hear the
gospel. Can you? Go ahead. Go ahead. See how that works out. Try it
on. Let's break their bands. We're
not going to have God dictate to us what we're going to do
and ain't going to do. One man got angry because he
took something wrong that I said. I was just talking about righteousness. And I was talking about people
that we love who've been deceived. And I said, I don't care if your
grandmother said this. Well, this man loved his grandma.
Oh, he got angry. He got angry. He was talking
to Russell about it. And Russell was trying to explain to him
The reason behind the statement, he said, and he was telling him
and showing him in the scriptures. He got angry, he said, I don't
care what the Word of God says. Oh, now truth comes out. Let's break their bands. Let's
chop off these cords. Angry because salvation's not
in their reach and it's not according to their will or works or ways.
It's according to God and His mercy. God chose to save a people
for the glory of His name and save them and His Son, whom He
made Lord of all. And I'm going to tell you something.
You and I better pay attention to what this is saying. Jesus
Christ is not waiting for you to make Him Lord. He's already
Lord. And He's your Lord if you hate
His guts. He's still your Lord. He'll do
with you what He will. That whole multitude of 5,000
men, our Lord performed an undeniable miracle. He took a few fishes
and loaves and fed 5,000 men and their wives and all their
children. And they said, we're going to make Him Lord. We're
going to make Him King. What did the Lord do? He got
out of there. You ain't making me nothing.
He left them by themselves. He went off to a place by himself.
He's already though. God chose His Son to save sinners
for the glory of His name. And He put His King, He says,
on His holy hill in Zion. That's talking about the church.
He set His King on the hill. On the hill. And what are you
going to do about it? Nothing. Nothing. You can rage all you want to.
You can imagine all you want to. You're not changing a thing.
is on his heel. All of this enmity, all of this
rage, it's just going to destroy our ministry. It's not going
to affect your ministry one iota. You know what the Lord says here
in this psalm about this? The Lord shall laugh. All this spitting and stomping
and yelling and dividing. You're out of here. I watched
that one old movie, that man, he didn't like John Wayne in
that movie. He said, give me my book. And he got the book.
He said, put his name in it. He said, now put a line through
it. Isn't that what men do? They're going to put a line through
it. I don't want any part of him. I don't want to fellowship.
I don't even want to hear his name. It don't matter. The Lord's
just going to laugh at you. You know what he's going to do?
He's going to put your head in the stocks. That's what he's
going to do. And everybody that passes by
is going to throw rotten tomatoes at you. That word derision, that's
what that means. He's going to publicly humiliate
you. And in that day, he will. In
our study next week in Luke, he's talking about people coming
in and choosing the high seats. And the Lord said, you'd be better
off going down there and get the less seat. And then when
the man comes in, he's going to say, come here. Sit up here,
and everybody's going to look at you, and they're going to
think well of you. But if you're sitting up here,
and you're a nobody, he said, I'm kicking you out, and you
don't even have a seat. You're going to be sitting out
there, and you're going to be looking in. He's your Lord, and not yours
only. He's Lord of everything. He's Lord of the dead and the
living. He's Lord of creation, Lord of providence, Lord of time. He's Lord, the blessed and only
potentate, King of kings and Lord of lords. And the question
is not what you're going to do with poor little Jesus, boy,
but what's the Lord Almighty going to do with you? What's
He going to do with me? He can do what He will. What's
He going to do? I don't know, but He's going to
save some in Christ. Do know that. Listen to Paul,
hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to
make one vessel unto honor and another to dishonor? He's the
potter. We're the clay. And listen, we're
clay just like them. It's the same lump. Clay ain't
got nothing to do with it. It has everything to do with
the potter. And he can turn that thing and he can make a trophy
of his grace and set it on his mantel in heaven forever to glorify
his son. Or he can turn you three or four
times and make you a slop yard, one or the other. Hath not the
potter power of the clay to make one vessel to honor and another
to dishonor? He's God. Earnest expectation, Paul said,
of creation. All creation waiteth for the
manifestation of the sons of God. That's what it expects. That's what it's waiting for. He tells us in his high priestly
prayer, talking about himself, as thou hast given him power
over all flesh. How much power? of power over
all flesh. Why? That he should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given him. He's Lord of heaven
and earth, he's Lord of creation and providence, he's Lord of
lords and king of kings, and he's Lord of salvation. He'll
have mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will ill harden.
That old leper came and fell down before him. He wasn't even
allowed by law to be there. And here he is. And he just cast
himself down at the feet of the only one that he knew could save
his soul. And he said, Lord, if you will,
who will we talking about? The Lord of glory. If you will,
you can make me clean. And I love what our Lord says.
I will. I will. Men despise a sovereign Christ. They despise sovereign grace. And then secondly, the world in overwhelming majority
despises God's king, despises his ways and means, despises
his rule and government. How does that affect the ministry?
He laughed. I laugh. Be careful how you vent
your anger and who you lambast before others. Be careful. God's elect are the apple of
his eye. God sends his preachers out into
a hostile world and they're despised because of what they preach.
Many die. Many die. Why did they die? For preaching this gospel. They died as a result of it.
Many suffered imprisonment. Many were outcasts. Read Hebrews
chapter 11. Lived in dens and caves of the
earth. Couldn't even come out and live among people. They were outcasts in society
and today were tolerated but not accepted into their fellowship.
And we are, for the most part, even divided from our own families. But the scripture said, God will
ask, who's going to stand against God? All men and man bowed himself
up, bowed himself up before God.
I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that. We'll see. You think God's intimidated by
man? Do you think all the religious
rage in the world can move God to do anything? God'll laugh. He'll have them in derision,
make a public spectacle out of them. Now here's who does God
respect? It says He respects no man, but
He does respect a man. He respects His Son. He respects his son. This is my beloved son. You hear
him. You hear him. The Lord said unto me, thou art
my son this day of thy begotten day. In Hebrews 5.5, he tells
us what this means. Christ glorified not himself
to be made a high priest, but he that said unto him, Thou art
my son, today have I begotten thee. Oh, that had to do with
the priesthood of Christ. Yeah. It did. It did. In another place, he said, Thou
art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. He's the
king priest. He's Lord, but he's also a priest. His office as king is to give
eternal life to God's elect, which he accomplishes through
his priesthood. And because he's a priest forever,
he has an unchangeable priesthood, wherefore he's able to save to
the uttermost those who come unto God by him. That's what
he's telling us in this psalm. What then can we do? What are
we going to do? We're rebels against God. We
find that out. We're sinners. We've been bucking
and fighting all this time against the sovereign God, the only God
who can save sinners. What are we going to do? Kiss
the Son. Kiss the Son. Put your arms around Him, embrace
Him, kiss the Son. He's the God-man mediator. Embrace
Him, whom to know is eternal life. and embrace Him because there
is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must
be saved. Kiss the Son, bow before Him,
obey Him, be taught by Him, look to Him, commit your soul to Him. Now let me tell you something. Look to Christ alone. You hear me? Christ alone. In Him. dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in Him. Oh, me preacher, how do I know
if I'm one with God today? Here's what Christ said. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. Where are they going to go? They're
going to go to the Son. They'll come to me. And him that
cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. How can I know if God's
willing to save me? This is the will of Him that
sent me, Christ said. A few verses down from there.
That every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may
have everlasting life, and I raise him up at the last day. Can you see Him? As I have declared
Him, He is King of kings, Lord of lords. Salvation is in Him,
none other name under heaven given, whereby we must be saved.
Can you see Him as God sets Him for? He that seeth the Son, and
believeth on Him, hath everlasting life. You believe His righteousness
is sufficient to please a holy God? Then trust Him. Blessed
are all they. Ain't that what he says here
in the end of this psalm? Blessed are all they that put
their trust in Him. Noah preached the righteousness
of Christ for 120 years. And all that while this world
mocked him, vented their anger at him, made him the butt of
their jokes. They continued on in their daily
affairs, marrying and giving in marriage, till the day God
shut Noah up in the ark. One day that old clown, that man that was publicly humiliated,
one day he and his family walked up that plank into the ark, and
that huge door that everybody was sitting around figuring,
who's going to shut that door? That thing was mammoth. It was
big enough for a pair of elephants to walk in. How you gonna close
that door? That door just come up and shut.
And then the sky turned dark and the rains come. And they
knew nothing till the storm came and washed them away. They didn't
know anything. When the wrath of God began,
it was too late. They knew not, the scripture
said, till the waters came and took them away. Oh God, be pleased
to show us today something of your sovereign mercy.