Well, I want us to look this
morning at Psalm 2. I know it's familiar, but I just
felt it was so relevant to these days of such worldly turmoil
that we're living in. Let's just read it together,
12 verses. 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 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 set my king on 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 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 perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. Right, well, if, you know, the
days in which we live are so tumultuous, if your hopes in
life depend on things in this life, I know so many people are
pinning all their hopes at the moment on a vaccine for Covid. That's it, you know, don't worry,
the cavalry will come to our rescue, there will be a vaccine
and we'll all be able to get back to normal and we'll all
have a ticket and a passport that says that we can go about
our normal daily business. Goodness knows what the authorities
will seek to do to us if they insist that without a passport
to say you've had the vaccine you can't go and do what you
want. It wouldn't surprise me, but that's the nature of the
days we live in. But what a basis of hope, how futile, that you
and your loved ones might live a few extra years before, wait
for it, inevitable death. Because that's what's coming.
How futile, isn't it? How futile. Read Ecclesiastes. How futile. How futile is life
if that is all there is. It's absolutely hopeless. And
all the other things in this world, never mind a vaccine for
Covid, but everything else that promises happiness and bliss
for a few fleeting years. You know, they're all broken
systems. They hold no water. They hold no genuine water. The
only truly, eternally satisfying water is that which is God himself,
the fountain of living waters. But the psalm that we've just
read says this, if you have kissed the Son in faith, if you've trusted
him, how blessed you are, how divinely favoured you are. How
rich, with the riches that this earth, this world knows nothing
of, but what great riches. How vibrant is your life with
good hope in the midst of all this turmoil. What confidence
the child of God, the believer can express. Psalm 118 verse
6 says this, the Lord is on my side, I will not fear. What can
man do to me? Nobody can do anything. Don't
fear the ones that can merely kill the body, fear Him who when
He has killed the body has power to cast into hell, but for His
people. He'll take us to eternal glory.
That's the confidence. And it's confidence that is not
based on whimsical, groundless hopes. It is confidence based
on knowledge. That's what it is. 2 Peter chapter
3 and verse 18, the last verse of Peter's in the Scripture says,
grow in grace. and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ. Confidence is based on knowledge,
the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, because
as we read elsewhere, in Him are hid all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge. All the true treasures of life,
of wisdom and knowledge, are hid in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We live not by bread alone, by the things that this world gives
us materially, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth
of God. He is our wisdom from God, and
our righteousness, and our sanctification, and our redemption. He is our
wisdom regarding life. He is the Word of God. In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. He is this Word, and He is the wisdom that we need
from God. And here, in this psalm, Psalm
2, which is his word, see knowledge, divine knowledge of two kingdoms. Do you know, the environment
in which we live, and it's been so down all history since the
Garden of Eden, and it will be until the end, is a situation
of two kingdoms, two kingdoms in conflict. The two kingdoms
are Zion, the kingdom of God, the church of God, the people
of God, the heaven of God, the eternity of God. The kingdom
of God and, on the other hand, the kingdom of Satan. The kingdoms
of this world, the kingdom of this world, because though they're
separate nations, yet, in truth, they are one kingdom. They're
pictured by the beasts of Revelation 13. The beast from the sea and
the beast from the land is the kingdoms of this world, joined
together in the kingdom of this world, the kingdom of Antichrist,
because it's against everything that the Gospel of Jesus Christ
proclaims and declares. The Gospel. The Kingdom of God
is good news. It's the Gospel. When Jesus,
it says right at the start of Mark's Gospel, when Jesus came
into Galilee, he was preaching the Gospel. The good news of
what? Of the Kingdom of God. The good
news of the Kingdom of God. This Gospel is the Gospel of
the Kingdom of God. It's a kingdom that is established
on righteousness. It's a kingdom that is established
on true righteousness. Man has a notion, governments
have a notion of that which is righteous, but God's Word declares
what is the righteousness of God. Our God is holy. Our God
dwells in unapproachable light. This kingdom is established on
the righteousness of God. It is established on divine justice
which is satisfied. The other kingdom, that of Satan,
that of this world, that of Antichrist, that kingdom is based on lies. For Satan is the father of lies,
he's the originator of lies. It's based on the lies, the refuge
of lies, as Isaiah 28 puts it, the refuge of lies of a utopia
that we can create without any need for the righteousness of
God. And it's a constant conflict throughout the history of the
world, throughout time. We were looking last week at
the Book of Esther, just dipping briefly into it. But the Book
of Esther was from about two and a half thousand years ago
in the Medo-Persian Empire, where Christ must come in accordance
with the scriptures from the people who were the Jews. That's
where he must come from. The seed of the woman who would
crush the head of Satan whilst having his heel bruised, the
seed of the woman promised in Genesis at the fall would come. He is the seed of Abraham. In
your seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed. He is the
descendant of David. Read the genealogies at the start
of the gospels. You'll see what I mean. He must
come according to the scriptures, according to Jacob. Shiloh will
come. Judah will hold the scepter.
Shiloh will come. He must come. according to the
Scriptures, but not if Satan can stop it. If Satan can stop
it, he will. So what does he seek to do? Satan
seeks to destroy the Jews. If he destroys all the Jews,
then Christ can't come, just as Herod did in his day. He killed
all the little boys, the young children under two years old,
because he heard what time the wise men said the Christ had
come. And so Satan always tries to use worldly powers, worldly
empires, worldly rulers, to destroy the testimony of the kingdom
of God. That's what he sought to do.
They try and have unity and peace without justice and truth, but
God's kingdom will triumph. Do you know what it says in God's
kingdom? In the salvation that Christ
accomplishes in Psalm 85 and verse 10, in Him, in Christ,
mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. In Christ, God is just In other
words, his justice, his righteousness is never compromised. He is just,
and yet, in Christ, he is the justifier of those who come to
God by him. He justifies his people in and
through his Son. The kingdom of God, his kingdom,
Zion, shall be populated. God's heaven is to be populated.
It's to be populated with sinners who are justified, and the justice
of God is not violated in any way. And God and his people,
whom he chose in Christ before the beginning of time, shall
be eternally and intimately united." You know, now we see but glimpses
of that intimate fellowship. Now we don't experience the full
face-to-faceness of it. We have the Word of God, we have
the testimony of the Holy Spirit, but the flesh is always striving
against us, but then it shall be uninterrupted. So then, what
does this psalm tell us about the two kingdoms? This is God's
perspective on two kingdoms. Look at verses 1 to 3. 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,
saying, Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords
from us. The world's opposition to God. They oppose God. But do you know
what's the most important word, I think, in those three verses?
It's the word right at the start. Why? Why? If you know anything
about who God is, and what God is, Why would you think there
is any point in trying to oppose him? Why would you think there
is any point trying to set yourself against him and against his anointed,
or as Peter quoted it in Acts chapter 4, against his Christ?
Why would you think there is any point? You know when you
set out to to do a job. Let me think of
a job. There are certain things that
you know you're going to win the battle against the thing
that you're trying to do. It might be pulling up a plant in the
garden, and it might be tough, but you know you're going to
get the better of it eventually. But then you have a go and you
try and pull some other plant out of the ground, and you know
you're just never ever going to do it. It's just futile. You
can expend all your strength till you kill yourself, but you
are not going to win. It's that kind of, why? Why do
the heathen rage? Why do the heathen, as the margin
says, tumultuously assemble? Why do they imagine? Why do they
meditate? Why do they think such a vain
thing? A vain thing is a futile thing. They can't succeed. They can't
possibly succeed. You see, they oppose God, but
they can't succeed. They don't call it opposing God,
of course, because many don't acknowledge God. The media don't
acknowledge God. All they ever do if they want
to put some information out there, is to try and undermine the truth
of God in the way that they do. It all amounts to the same thing.
They're opposing God. Instead, they're seeking their
world peace and cooperation in mutual unbelief, isn't it? Do you know what unbelief is?
You know, the world tries to portray unbelief, atheism, or
agnosticism, as intellectual superiority. Oh, I'm in a position
of intellectual superiority. I'm an agnostic when it comes
to God. I'm hedging my bets. Do you know
what you're doing? You who proudly think like that,
you're calling God, who is holy and just and the judge, you're
calling God a liar. You who yourself are a liar,
you're calling God a liar. This world contradicts the created
order. This world flouts the divine
law that is written in the heart. Look at verse 3. This is what
they say. This is what the world says and
its rulers. Let us break their bands. Whose bands? God's bands. The triune God. Let us break
their bands, their constraints. the constraints of His law and
of His justice and of His righteousness. Let's get rid of it, let's shake
it off, cast away their cords that tie us up, that restrain
where we can go and let's just go and do what we want to do.
They replace God's Word with their own wisdom and the philosophy
of this world and with their pseudoscience. Have we ever seen
more pseudoscience than in these days of deception in which we
live? utter deception. These are the
days. Satan is released for a little season to deceive the nations
once more. He's allowed to do it for a little
season. They throw off, this world throws off, the constraint
of God's righteousness. Whether or not they call it that,
more often than not they don't call it that, but that's what
it is. It's the constraint of God's righteousness, and they
try to get away from it. You see, what unbelief and rebellion
is really saying is what Satan has prompted the world to say. Satan has prompted the world
to say, we don't need, we don't want the seed of the woman to
come. Why don't we? Because there's
no sin. We don't accept this thing that we're sinners, we
don't accept this thing that there's such a thing as sin,
and if there's no sin, there's no injustice and there's no need
for a Redeemer to save us from the penalty of that sin. No,
we don't need it at all. That's what they do. It's a lie,
that unbelief, that lie of unbelief. That's what it says. In Esther's
day, They said, at the instigation of that wicked man Haman, the
world would be a better place without the Jews, and they sought
to destroy them, and thereby, in Satan's scheming, to destroy
the Christ who would come. He's always been there, seeking
to destroy. In the Apostles' Day, we saw
what it was in Acts 4 and verse 25, Acts 4 verse 25, this is
Peter quoting this psalm, who by the mouth of thy servant David
has said, why did the heathen rage and the people imagine vain
things? The kings of the earth stood
up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against his Christ. See, he's saying what they had
just experienced in opposition to the gospel of Christ that
they were seeking to preach, and the miracles and wonders
that they were doing in his name, the kingdoms of this world hated
it, and Satan was seeking to destroy it, and seeking to put
an end to it. It's just exactly what Revelation
12 talked about. In Revelation chapter 12, I'll
just turn there for you now, in verse 9, And the great dragon
was cast out, that old serpent called the devil, and Satan,
which deceiveth the whole world. He was cast out of the heaven
of God, he was Lucifer, the... The angel of light, the angel
of the morning, but he was cast out for rebellion, he was cast
out into the earth. He was cast out because he was
defeated by the child that came from the woman, the Christ who
came from the people of God to redeem his people from the curse
of the law. He was cast out into the earth
and his angels were cast out with him, that's where all the
demons come from. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven,
now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and
the power of his Christ, for the accuser of our brethren is
cast down." Satan's the one who says they've got no right to
be in heaven. because they're sinners, and the justice of God
demands that they ought not to be in heaven. You see, on the
one hand, that's what he argues. That's what he did argue in the
war that was in heaven, but Christ has defeated him. He accused
them before our God, day and night. Those Old Testament saints,
they had no right to be in heaven because they were not justified.
They were sinners, but Christ came and justified them. These
ones that he accused, verse 11, they overcame him, Satan, by
the blood of the lamb. How did they do it? by the blood
of the Lamb. How does that do it? Because
He, the Lamb, the Christ of God, God Himself, the Redeemer, came
and paid the penalty to the justice of God for the sins of His people,
and thereby they overcame Him by the blood of the Lamb, and
by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives
unto death. Satan was defeated at Calvary. Satan was defeated when Christ
came. They, the world, tries to throw
off the truth of God and the righteousness of God and to say
it's not necessary but Christ has accomplished righteousness
and don't just think that it's worldly powers that is actually
the kingdom of this world that rails against God and his rule. Do you know something? The truth
of the matter is that we do ourselves, in a way, in our flesh. You know
what Paul wrote in Romans 7, Romans chapter 7 verse 21, he
says, this is a believer. I'm a believer. Many of you listening
to me now are believers. This is the testimony. I find
then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with
me. For I delight in the law of God
after the inward man, but I see another law in my members, warring
against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity through
the law of sin, which is in my members. Oh, wretched man that
I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? I thank God. Through Jesus Christ
our Lord. That's the grace of God in Christ.
You see, even this flesh wars against the kingdom of God, doesn't
it? Even this flesh does. Anyway,
there's the opposition of the world, and that's the situation
that we're in. The world and its kingdoms, motivated
by Satan, is a kingdom of antichrist, which is against everything that
God in his righteousness and justice has done in Christ. for
his people, for his church, for his Zion. Look at the response
of God then to all of this violent efforts of this world to overthrow
the restraint and rule of God. Verse four, he that sitteth in
the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision,
then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in
his sore displeasure. Did you see? God in serenity
sits. As they rail and row and make
a tumult, God serenely sits in heavens. Why does he sit Sitting
down is a sign of a work which is finished. His purpose and
his work is completed through his own, through his Christ's
obedience and death. It is finished, said Christ.
He doesn't rise up to battle. He laughs. The Lord shall laugh. He shall have them in derision.
Their opposition is so futile it doesn't even warrant any physical
restraint. How futile their rebellion. How
inescapable is His righteousness and His justice. You read Revelation. You read as the chapters go on
and repeatedly give a picture from a different perspective
of the end of this world and of the sin that's in this world
and how this world does not bow in repentance in general to the
truth of God. But whatever they do, however
much they rebel, they're quickly brought to an end. they're quickly
brought to an end. And he speaks, God speaks. He
speaks not in compromise. He doesn't say, come on then,
well let's try and find a solution to this. He doesn't speak in
cooperation to the kingdoms of this world. He speaks to them,
verse 5, in his wrath. because his wrath is just, his
anger is just. He says, despite all your rebellion,
you shall not escape divine justice. That day of reckoning is coming.
It grows ever closer, that day of reckoning, when God shall
exact the penalty for the sins of this world. That is eternally
established. That cannot be avoided. And the
only way of avoiding, not avoiding, but satisfying that justice whilst
honouring the law of God is in verse 6. It is in his King, the
King that God has set upon his throne, upon his holy hill in
Zion. Let's look at the supremacy of
Christ, the absolute supremacy of Christ, verse 6. Yet have
I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion, or as it says in the
margin, upon Zion the hill of my holiness. I will declare the
decree. The Lord hath set 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. This is how God responds. This is how God responds. The
only way that His wrath is propitiated is in His King, His King whom
He has set on His holy hill of Zion. The revelation of His will
and purpose in redemption is in his King. That's where it
is. It's nowhere else. It's in his Christ, in the Christ
of God. The revelation of God's will
and purpose in redemption from sin is in Christ and him alone. Christ and him alone is the whole
counsel, the whole wisdom of God against Satan's rebellion.
Christ, Christ is the answer. Ultimately, the only king, there
are kings in this earth, there are rulers, they don't call them
all kings these days, there are rulers, there are powers that
be. But ultimately, the only king that matters is God's king. the king of the universe, the
king who is Christ, the king of kings, and the Lord of lords.
The kings of the earth, as it says in verse 2, set themselves
and take counsel together against the Lord, against his Christ,
against his anointed. They rage against the Christ
of God. Why do they rage against the
Christ of God? Without a cause? Who is a man
who did no harm? Why was it that they raged against
him? Because He alone is the way that
sin is dealt with and the justice of God satisfied. And they determined
to insist that they are good enough, that they have no sin
that needs to be punished, that they are fit for eternal existence,
they are fit for some kind of utopia. That's what they claim,
that's what they rage about, against the Lord and against
his anointed. But the scripture is clear, it
is only in Christ. As Satan's kingdom rages, which
as you know, I've referred to it many times, if you read Revelation
13, you see in very symbolical language, the
world that we're living in today, in terms of the beast from the
sea and the beast from the land and what it actually amounts
to. It's the kingdoms of this world in complete opposition
to the kingdom and truth and righteousness of God. But as
Satan's kingdom rages, and even stops believers, anybody that
doesn't have the mark of the beast on their forehead, whatever
that is in reality, whoever doesn't have that, whoever doesn't sign
up allegiance, to the kingdom of this world, the kingdom of
Antichrist, is prevented from trading. They can't buy or sell.
They're prevented from trading. Life is made incredibly difficult
for them. But even in the midst of all
of that raging against the Zion of God, the people of God, the
church of God, the Christ of God, We read in the very next
verse, Revelation 14 verse 1, that the Lord Triumphant reigns
in Zion, that He is there on His holy hill of Zion. Exactly
as verse 6 says, my King is on my holy hill of Zion. Read Revelation
14 verse 1. There He is on Mount Zion with
His 144,000, with His people in this world. Zion is the kingdom
of God. Zion is the church of the redeemed. Those redeemed? Redeemed means
a price has been paid for them. The price of freedom, of liberty. Gospel freedom, liberty. Freedom
from what? Freedom from the curse of the
law, from the condemnation of the offended justice of God.
Redeemed from the curse of the law in the blood of Christ who
became a curse for his people. It's God's hill of His holiness
is Zion, where His righteousness is established and honored in
redeeming blood. Did you see that when we read
in Revelation 12? They, His people, overcame Him, Satan, who accused
them. How did they do it? By the blood
of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony. It's by the
blood of the Lamb that Satan is defeated. That's how it's
done. He, Christ, is the shield of his people. He is the one
who shields his people. Behold, O God, our shield. Psalm 84 verse 9. Behold, O God,
our shield. And look upon the face of thine
anointed. He shields his people from the
accusations of Satan, from the attempts of Satan to drag us
down to hell, And then in verse 7, he speaks. Christ speaks.
I will declare the decree. Here he is speaking, the king,
on the holy hill of Zion. The Lord has said to me. What? Sorry? How does that? The Lord?
This is Christ speaking. The Lord has said to me. You
know in the New Testament you read, the Lord said unto my Lord,
sit thou at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.
How is it that the Lord can say unto my Lord? The Lord has said
unto me, Christ. The Lord God, the Father has
said unto me, Christ. This is what he said. You are
a priest, you are a son. Thou art my son, this day have
I begotten thee. Which day? Which day? this eternal
day, in eternity. The day not like a day of the
earth going round the sun and spinning on its axis. No, the
day of eternity. This day have I begotten thee. This day is the sun from everlasting
For everlasting is the Son, the manifestation of God to his people. Thou art my Son, this day have
I begotten thee. In him and in his blood is righteousness
established, is justice satisfied. It is all in him. So what then? He is so favoured. What did God
say in the hearing of people when he walked this earth? On
several occasions, what did those that heard it testify that he
said, the voice came from heaven, this is my beloved son, in whom
I am well pleased. Listen to him, this is my beloved
son, he's so favoured, Christ is so favoured, he's the anointed,
he's the delight of the Father, he is the one by whom he accomplishes
his eternal purposes. So what will He not give to His
Son, to one so favoured? He says, ask of Me, Christ, ask
of the Father. What does Christ want? Behold,
I am the children whom He has given Me. Lift up your heads,
O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and
the King of glory shall come in. Who is the King of glory?
The Lord of hosts. He is the King of glory. Ask
of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance.
I have an elect multitude amongst the heathen Gentiles, not just
amongst the Jews from whom the seed should come. What did he
say to Abraham? Abraham, in thy seed, Christ,
shall just the Jews be blessed. No, didn't say that, did he?
In your seed, Abraham, shall all nations of the earth be blessed,
right? I will give you the heathen for
your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession.
Do you know something? Satan tried to offer that to
Christ in the temptation, that he would give the uttermost parts
of the earth for his inheritance. No. It isn't Satan's to give,
it's the Father's to give, and he gives it to the Son, to the
Lord Jesus Christ. In verse eight, being so highly
exalted, would the Father not grant the Son what he desired?
He desires the salvation of his people. This is God's to give. This isn't Satan's to give, as
in the temptation, look at all these kingdoms, bow down and
worship me and I will give them to you. Satan only claimed them
because Adam, the first viceroy over the creation of God, had
ceded rule to Satan in the fall. No. The Son is God the Saviour. Listen, look, I know the Scriptures
are replete with things like this, but in Isaiah 43, I just
love these chapters in the middle of Isaiah, 40 through to 45,
absolutely glorious. But in 43, verse 11, listen to
this. Who is this that's speaking?
I'll read them and then ask yourself, who is it that's speaking? I,
even I am the Lord. Beside me, there is no Saviour. I have declared, and have saved,
and I have showed. When there was no strange God
among you, therefore you are my witnesses, saith the Lord,
that I am God. Yea, before the day was, I am
he, and there is none that can deliver out of my hand. I will
work, and who shall let it? Before Abraham was, I am. That's what Jesus said. When
the Pharisees, the Jews, were interrogating him, and he's talking
about Abraham. Abraham saw my day and rejoiced.
And they said, have you seen Abraham? He said, Abraham rejoiced
to see my day. Before Abraham was, I am. He said, I am. I am the One.
That is Christ. That's the words of the Son.
That's the words of our God manifest in Christ. He is the One. His
triumph is in no doubt. Which kingdom is going to win,
the kingdom of this world, of Satan, of Antichrist, or the
kingdom of God? Verse 9, Thou shalt break them
with a rod of iron. Thou shalt dash them in pieces
like a potter's vessel, as easily as an iron hammer breaks a porcelain
pot. You know what it is? Have you
ever You know, we don't like to break porcelain pots, usually,
but there are times when you're doing a bit of clearing up and
you just want to reduce the volume of some old things, and do you
know something, there's something incredibly satisfying about getting
a nice heavy hammer and just hitting a vase, an ugly vase
on the side, and you know that kind of, as it just shatters
into shards, lots of little shards, yeah? Easiest way to get rid
of it. That's what God says. is how the kingdom of this world
of Satan is going to be destroyed. Thou shalt break them with a
rod of iron, thou shalt dash them in pieces as a potter's
vessel. In Revelation 2 and verse 27
in one of the letters to the churches, It's talking about
Christ's people in him. He says, Christ's people in him,
those that persevere, is the encouragement in that letter,
shall rule them, this world, with a rod of iron, shall rule
those who oppose them with a rod of iron. As vessels of a potter
shall they be broken to shivers. This is revelation speaking to
the people of God about the situation regarding the opposition of this
world. Even as I received of my father,
This is from God. This is how he received it. God
declares to him, you are my son, this day have I begotten you.
You shall break them with a rod of iron. And he says, you in
me, my church, shall do the same. Revelation 12, verse 5. Who is
it that's going to do it? She, the church, the woman, brought
forth a man-child, a man-child, as Satan was seeking to destroy
the man-child as soon as it was born. And that man-child was
to rule all nations with a rod of iron. There it is again. Don't
fear that things are out of control. Don't fear that evil is winning,
that truth is suppressed. Look at the end state. Let's
just look at this. I'm not telling you anything you don't know,
but that doesn't matter, does it? Look in Philippians chapter
2 and verse 6 about the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being in the
form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made
himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant,
and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion
as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. Now listen, wherefore God has
highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus Some, no, it doesn't say that,
every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth,
and things under the earth, and that every tongue, not some,
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father. That's the end state of things.
Now, listen, in the couple of minutes we have left, to some
wise counsel from heaven. Verse 10, Be wise now, therefore,
O ye kings, you kings of the earth, and those that follow
them, that rebel, be instructed, be instructed, listen, be instructed,
ye judges of the earth, This is the wise counsel, serve the
Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, 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. This is the counsel from God,
the counsel from heaven. Acknowledge God in his rightful
place as supreme. Bow before him with reverential
fear and acknowledge with the psalmist. Acknowledge what the
psalmist says again and again. Psalm 31, 14 and 15, I trusted
in thee, O Lord. I said, thou art my God. Listen,
my times are in thy hand. Bow before God in reverential
fear and respect and honour. acknowledging that your next
breath is in his hands, my times are in thy hand. Come to him
in the only way he accepts. How are you going to come to
him? Do you know the way to God? We don't know the way, said the
disciples to Jesus in John 14, and what did Jesus say? John
14 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to
the Father but by me. All you religious leaders in
this country who go and peddle the value and the worth and the
things we can learn from other ways, hear what the Son of God
says. I am the way, the truth and the
life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. Don't kiss some other sort of
religion. Kiss by which we mean in love
and in faith and in submission. Kiss the Son. Kiss the Christ
of God. Come to Christ in love and faith
and submission. He makes His people willing in
the day of His power. Has He made you willing? Come
to Him. Believe Him. Gladly leave the eternal care
of your immortal soul in His safekeeping. I know whom I have
believed, and that He's able to keep that which I've committed
unto Him, my immortal soul and its eternal good, in His care,
for He has accomplished all things. This isn't legal servitude. This is loving heart obedience. Kiss the Son. Kiss the Son. Kissing is such a mark of affection
and intimacy. Song of Solomon chapter 1 verse
2 says, Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for
thy love is better than wine. Do you know that the love of
the Son of God, of God himself in Christ, is better than wine,
is better than anything this world can offer? How divinely
favoured, how blessed to be trusting, in the unmovable rock of ages,
cleft for me, in such times of turmoil and peril as these, as
years down the whole of history. Those that trust him are as the
apple of his eye. If you've got the bulletin, which
I hope you have, there's a couple of articles, one by me about
these two kingdoms and another one by, is it David Edmondson?
I think, I'm not quite sure, I think it's David Edmondson,
about the apple of his eye. Don't fear in these times, in
these days, You know, the apple of the eye is the very sensitive
bit. You know, I can't even poke a
finger in my own eye, never mind let anybody else poke a finger
in my eye. God, He says, you're like the apple of His eye if
you're a believer. He's not going to let anything poke Him in His
eye, in the apple of His eye. It's the most sensitive bit.
And to Him, that's what His people are. He will not allow anything
to cause eternal harm or loss to them. Do you trust Him? Do you? This glorious God, do
you trust him? Like I said a couple of weeks
ago, if not, why not? Why not? There, I said the most
important word was why right at the start. Why futilely rage
against him? Why not trust him? Blessed are
all they that put their trust in him. Amen.