In the second psalm the psalmist
asked this question. Why do the heathen rage and the
people imagine a vain thing? 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. What a question to ask. What
an attitude to take against Almighty God and his anointed. And yet it's the cry of every
man's heart. It's the response of every fallen
sinner's mind. It's what you and I have said
of God in our hearts. We have raged and have imagined
a vain thing. We have taken counsel together
against the Lord and His anointed. We have said, let us break their
bands asunder and cast away their cords from us. We have raged. Why do the heathen rage? Why do you rage? And the people
imagine a vain thing. given who we rage against and
given his response. But the psalmist goes on, 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. He shall laugh. He shall speak unto us in wrath. Yet have I set my king upon my
holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree. The Lord have 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. There's a tremendous presentation
of the state of man before Almighty God, all men, throughout all
generations and all countries and peoples. Tremendous presentation
of the state of man by nature, the heart of man, the rage and
the enmity of man against God. And of the power of Almighty
God who has the Creator and Sustainer of all things, who has the One
who gives man his breath and his life, with which he rages,
with which he curses God, with which he imagines vain things. The response of Almighty God
as He looks down upon these raging grasshoppers upon the earth. is to laugh and to have them in derision
for how small and puny we are even the greatest of men and
how great and mighty he is and yet we continue and yet puffed
up with pride to think we are something we rage and we seek
to cast God's bands asunder and take and cast away his cords
from us. We seek to have our freedom to
put ourselves upon the throne and yet that freedom and that
rebellion brings his wrath and his sore displeasure. Yet despite
that fury that just response to the hatred of man against
him. Yet despite the just response
of Almighty God to a creation which rebels in such a foolish
manner, this psalm goes on to speak of the wonderful mercy,
the grace and the love of God who has decreed to save a people. God has set His Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ, His King, upon His holy hill of Zion. he has
decreed and he has said forever the Lord has said unto the son
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 ask of me
and I will give you all things and the son has gone forth and
I say give me a people and I will love them forever. And out of
that people, out of that populace, out of the world, who has raged
and hated, the son came and took them. And took them upon himself
and took their iniquity and sin upon himself. And went to a place
of execution and said unto his father, judge not them but slay me for what they have
done. Judge them not for their vain
imagination. Judge these not for their raging
against thee. Judge them not for breaking your
bands asunder and casting your cords away from them. Judge these
not for their hatred and enmity and sin, but judge me as though
I'm them. And the father took the sword
of divine justice. And he looked upon that people.
And he looked upon their sin in his wrath and his sore displeasure. And he took the sword and instead
of destroying them he thrust it through his own son whom he
loved. And he pierced his son and he
slew his son. and his son died in their stead
that they might live forevermore and in so doing his
son took away the sin of that people He took away their rage,
He took away their vain imagination, He took away their counsel, He
took away their enmity, their hatred, their sin. He took it
all away and made them to be righteous in Him. And He received
them for an inheritance from His Father. And He received that
people called collectively His Brides, as that Bride whom He
would love forever. And she, delivered from her sin,
washed clean in His blood, looked upon her Saviour, and kissed
Him, and loved Him, and she loves Him forevermore. Kiss the Son,
lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath
is kindled but a little. Well, none do, but this one does. because he suffered in her stead. He took the sword through his
own heart. He shed his own blood that he
might have her for his own forever. Did he do that for you? Was he pierced through in your
place? You heathen who rages and imagines
a vain thing against God. You who have set yourself to
battle, to war with Almighty God, did the Son say to the Father,
destroy him not, destroy her not, judge me as though I'm them,
slay me for what they have done. Curse me for what they have broken
of thy law. Burn me with the fires of thy
wrath. Slay me, for I love them and
I give myself for them. Did he do that for you? If he did, you will be counted
amongst them. that when they hear the Gospel,
when they hear of what He has done for them, when you hear
what He has done for you, when you're brought to receive it
and believe it, you will trust in Him, you will rest in Him,
you will look to Him, you will follow Him, you will love Him,
you will kiss Him, and you will say, how can it be that I raged
against this One and He loved me? that I hated him and he loved
me, that I sought to put him to death and he died for me. Blessed are all they that put
their trust in him. Where's your trust? So we see
in this short psalm the gospel in its richness, sent forth to
a world which rages and hates. We see first, in these first
few verses, the heathen's rage. We see then the Lord's response,
how first he laughs and then he speaks. We see this gospel which he declares
of how he has set his king upon the holy hill of Zion. How he
decreed and how he has given his son the heathen for his inheritance. We see the judgment of God in
verse nine against those who were never brought to see. those
who never kiss the sun, those who go to their grave raging,
how he breaks them with a rod of iron and dashes them in pieces
like a potter's vessel. We see wisdom in verse 10 which
can only be given of God to turn from our sin. and to be instructed
and to turn to serve the Lord with fear and to rejoice with
trembling. We see the service which flows
from this wisdom and finally we see the love and the adoration
for the Son which only His people can have who trust as they look
under Him by faith. Why do the heathen rage and the
people imagine a vain thing? Why do they rage? Why do you
rage? Can you not see the absurdity,
the folly of the created being, the creature? man upon this earth
raging against his creator raging against God who sustains him
in six days God created the heavens and the earth and he put man
upon the earth and he breathed life into man and he set the
sun in the heavens to shine forth and bring forth heat upon the
earth and bring forth life and he sends the rain and the sun
and he brings forth living things and he brings forth food and
he gives life unto man. He puts the air in the world
that we might breathe. He gives us bread to eat and
water to drink. He causes the heart to beat.
He causes the atoms to remain in their state. such that everything
stays in its place and doesn't collapse to nothing. He creates
the forces upon which this world, this universe depend. He's the
one who created gravity. He's the one who created magnetism. He's the one that created all
the forces which scientists investigate but never truly understand. He's the one who gives life and
takes away life. He's the one upon whom we all
depend and yet we all rage and imagine that we can turn against
him and succeed. What is the vain thing that the
people imagine? Well, we imagine many vain things. But the greatest vain thing that
we imagine is that we can, as it were, push God off his throne
and put ourselves in his place and escape with impunity. Now people aren't so foolish
as to think they can get away with that in the natural realm.
If you seek to rebel against the leader of a country, of a
power, of a king or a president and try to depose him and put
yourself in his place, unless you have a massive army and the
groundswell of all opinion, it's very unlikely you'll get away
with it. And yet here's men and women
on the earth as individuals, weak nothings, and we have rejected
God. And we have said, this man shall
not reign over us. We will not serve God. We will
not walk in his ways. We will not love him. We will
have our own way. We will be the master of our
fate. We will sit on the throne. I
will choose where I go and what I do and what I say. I'll have
no God to rule over me. That's what we all say and it's
what you say. That's what you say subconsciously
every day when you get up. in the morning and think not
of God and give him no thanks for the day and the life that
he's given unto you and give him no thanks for the world in
which he's placed you and give him no thanks for the food and
the water which he gives unto you but plan out your day with
what you will do and with what you will seek and with what you
will get and whether you consciously think of God or his name or not
or whether you consciously think of his anointed his son the Lord
Jesus Christ regardless of what you consciously think unconsciously
in your heart you live as though there is no God and your heart
says there is no God and your heart places you on God's throne
and it places you in the position of God and you say I will control
my own destiny it's my life and I'm going to live it and that's
the vain thing that you imagine because there is a God and he
made you and he sustained you and your life is in his hands
any moment of any day he could say enough away with you I'm
weary of your rebellion he could say of you I'm weary of your
attitude I'm weary of your rebellion I'm weary of your hatred and
I will burn you up in my wrath every day that goes by that you're
able to live despising God and rejecting God and you're not
destroyed utterly is a day in which he has shown long-suffering
mercy unto you. Because you deserve his rejection,
you deserve his condemnation and his wrath. All of us do. And it's a vain thing to imagine
we can go on day by day, year after year, throughout our life
and not pay a price for our attitude unto God. Man deludes himself
by saying there is no God. Man deludes himself and others
by saying there is no judgement. There's nothing after death.
This world is all there is. What you can touch, handle and
feel and sense. What science can measure. This
is all there is. You live your life here. You
live it to the full. You live it for yourself and
then you go into the grave and there's no more. It's just fables. Just myths. There's nothing after
death. We're just animals. We just go back into the dust.
So live life to the full and forget about what's after death.
There's no God, there's no one to account for. There's no one
to give an account to. But the fools, by so doing, deny
reality. Because life exists because of
a creator. Life is here because there's
a God. And when you die, you will stand
before him with a certainty. This life on this earth is brief. And if that is all you have,
if that is all that you think you have, if you were to believe
the fools that say, oh, it's just now and then there's no
more, then what's the point? It's gone in a moment. Most of
your life is miserable and suffering. Your days of youth flash by,
you become old, you develop illnesses, you become lonely. What's it
all for? They're fools. They imagine a
vain thing and you imagine a vain thing if you think your 70 years
on this earth is all there is. No sir, you will stand before
Almighty God with a certainty and you will answer unto Him.
And if you've taken counsel, as the rulers of this earth have
taken counsel, and as the kings have taken counsel against God
and against His anointed, saying, let us break their bands of sundering,
cast away their cords from us, then you'll find that you'll
answer for it. because all the while that you
are raging and imagining a vain thing and going after your own
glory your own pleasure and rejecting God and saying in your heart
there is no God all the while you do this he that sitteth in
the heavens laughs because you're a fool And it's laughable. It's laughable
that any says there is no God. It's laughable that the kings
and the rulers in this world say there is no God. It's laughable
that the scientists and those in power say there is no God. It's laughable that the teachers
in the universities and the schools say there is no God. It's sheer
folly that they teach that this world came from nothing. That
there was a big bang followed by millions of years of evolution. That there is no creator. It
is sheer folly, it's laughable. And God who exists and rules
over all, sits in the heavens and laughs. Because what has
man become? How foolish he is. That he kids
himself. That there's no God. and that
he can rage against God and do what he likes and will not pay
the price. Do you imagine a vain thing? Do you imagine you can live the
life you live full of selfishness? not just rebellion, rebelling
against God, but rebelling against your neighbor, rebelling against
all authority, rebelling against your parents, hating one another,
hating your neighbors, hating friends, hating enemies, hating
brothers and sisters, hating the law, hating authority, hating
teachers, hating governments, hating, hating, hating, you can
live the life you love like Choosing whom you love, choosing whom
you hate, choosing where you go, choosing where you don't
go, seeking pleasure, seeking riches, full of sin, full of
hatred, and not answer for it. It's a vain thing. And you are vain and foolish,
so to think. This race, this imagination just
shows forth the state of man by nature. For man, for God created
man upon this earth and he was innocent. Without sin. But when Adam, when Eve rebelled
against God's command, and took of the fruit of the tree which
God forbade them, and did not do as God commanded, when they
rejected His authority and His rule over them, then sin entered
and death by sin. Then they fell, and then a vain
imagination entered into their hearts. A vain imagination that
they could do this and get away with it. Man says there is no
God. Man says there is no sin to answer
for. But when sin entered, death entered
by sin. And death is a fact that you
cannot escape. Every day, every hour, every
minute, every second that goes by, countless numbers of people
die. and leave time and enter eternity
and mankind can do nothing about it death is all around and the
reason death is all around whether you like it or not is because
of the sin in your heart you will die because you sin because
you hate God that's the judgment It's already come to pass, the
time is ticking away until it's executed upon you. Death is the
consequence of your sin, your rebellion, your age. And you
prove me wrong. You cannot. You can rage, you can imagine,
you can cast asunder, you can cast the cords from you. You
can cast all of God's rule over you aside. You can live as you
like, but you will bring a response. Because in verses four and five,
we see that the Lord God responds. He that sitteth in the heaven
shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision
because as I said it's laughable, it's foolish, it's folly. There's
no wisdom in these things. This is the wisdom of man but
the wisdom of man is foolishness. And he'll have you in derision
because you're to be derided if you think you can shake your
fist at God and get away with it. By having laughed. the Lord will then speak he will
then speak, then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex
them in his sore displeasure now it's a wonderful thing that
this God who could just sit and laugh goes on to speak because
it's in his speech that there is hope for fools like you and
I. It's in His speech that there
is hope for fools like you and I. For God's speech is through
His Son. When He speaks unto us, He speaks
unto us through Jesus Christ. And when He speaks through Christ,
He ultimately speaks to bring life. When He spake through Christ
in the beginning, He created through Christ the heavens and
the earth. All things were made by Him and
not anything was made that was not made by Him. That's through
Christ. God spake. He spake through His
Son, the Word of God, and the heavens and the earth were brought
into being. And He speaks to a fallen world. He speaks unto sinners through
His Son, and He speaks either to judgment to those that will
not hear, or if he speaks to those whom he has chosen in his
Son, he speaks unto life. He speaks through his Gospel.
Paul says in Romans, he's not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ,
for it is the power of God unto salvation, for therein is the
righteousness of God revealed. For the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who
hold the truth in unrighteousness. When he commences to speak and
to speak his gospel he begins by declaring his wrath. But if
you hear that speech, if you hear his speech, he will go on
to speak. in mercy and in grace. Then shall he speak unto them
in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure because
the first response to those who rage against God is to hear of
his justice and his wrath, is to know of our folly, to know
of our sin, to know where we stand before a holy God. So He
reveals His wrath against all of our sin. And He shows us what
we are. He shows us what we are, that
there is none that understand, if there is none that seeketh
after God, there is none righteous, no not one. All the world becomes
guilty before Him. But having thus spoken, having
thus spoken, he goes on to declare his grace and his mercy through
his son in the gospel. Paul goes on in Romans to say,
but now the wrath of God having been revealed, all men being
proven to be sinners, the righteous judgment of God against sin being
declared. But now, in the Gospel, when
God speaks through His Son, now the righteousness of God, which
is by faith of Jesus Christ, is made known. Now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God which is by faith for
Jesus Christ. Now God speaks and says unto
this guilty world, behold my son, then shall he speak unto
them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure yet have
i set my king upon my holy hill of zion he begins to speak he
doesn't continue to laugh but having laughed at the folly of
man he goes on to speak and his speech begins with his wrath
and his displeasure against sin but it goes on to declare his
son I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion I will declare
the decree where the son says the Lord have said unto me, thou
art my son, this day have I begotten thee. Oh, he has a king. There are kings and rulers on
this earth who have taken counsel together against the Lord and
against his anointed. They have their spheres of rule. These puny little kings and presidents
that preside over a puny little country where puny little grasshoppers
to do their bidding. Well the Lord in heaven, almighty
God, the eternal, the everlasting, the infinite has a king. the king of kings, the lord of
lords, the king who rules over all kings, to whom every king
must bow, to whom every president must bow the knee, to whom all
the rulers of this earth must answer for what they have done,
and how they have led the people astray, and how they have told
their nations there is no God, and how they have led the people
in rebellion against Him. They must all bow their knee
to this King. For at the name of Jesus every
knee will bow. Every knee shall bow, every knee. For God has a king that he sets
forth before the people and says, here's my king. And I've set
him on a throne on my holy hill of Zion. And all the world, all
the heathen, all the uttermost parts of the earth will have
to bow before him. They are his possession. They
are his to do what he wills with. He will rule over all men, women,
and children, every nation, tribe, and kindred, and they will all
be gathered before Him. And of some He will say, Thou
art my beloved. I have laid down my life for
you. I have shed my blood for you.
Come, my faithful servants, into everlasting rest. And of others
He will look, and He will say of them, away from me I never
knew you ye workers of iniquity and he will send them forth into
outer darkness and everlasting judgment there's a king before
whom we will stand I have set my King upon my holy hill of
Zion. I will declare the decree. The
Lord have said unto me, Thou art my Son. This day have I begotten
thee. God has a Son, an eternal Son,
an everlasting Son, eternally begotten, but sent forth into
this world in the fullness of time. There came that day in
time when God brought him forth from the womb of Mary, and God
brought him forth as a man. and he was begotten of Mary and
there came that day when he as the saviour of his people as
the substitute was taken to the cross at Calvary and nailed to
the tree and slain that he might deliver his people and that day
he died and he was laid in the grave and on the morning of the
third day. Early in the morning of the first
day of the week, the women came to the tomb and found the stone
rolled away and found that the Son of God was not therein but
He was risen. For that day He rose from the
dead. He rose with newness of eternal
life, begotten from the grave. Never to die again, never to
suffer again, never to be made sin again, but victorious having
delivered his people. This day have I begotten thee,
thou art my son. Oh what a son, what that son
did, what a glorified son. Oh the pride the father had in
that son how he lifts him up to our gaze and says unto the
world look at my son my king look at what he's done look at
what he's done out of love for the heathen for those who hated
him he's died for them he's washed them clean in his blood he's
delivered them and he's risen again from the grave he's conquered
death Did he conquer death for you? and he says unto him as
a consequence, ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen
for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth
for thy possession. All is yours, all the fullness
of the Godhead dwells bodily in the sun and all things are
his. This world is his. The wicked
and the righteous are His. The saved and the lost are His. All are His to do with as He
wills. You are His. Well, what will
He do with you? What will He do with you? He
has the power, as verse nine says, to judge you to the uttermost. Thou shalt break them with a
rod of iron. Thou shalt dash them in pieces
like a potter's vessel. We're nothing. We're like pieces
of clay in his hands and he can just smash us, drop us to the
ground, strike us with his hand and we crumble. That's who you
will stand before. He shall break them with a rod
of iron. Well when he comes with his rod,
and dashes you to pieces? Will it be forever? Or will it
be that rod of the law which condemns you and convicts you
and brings you before his knees to cry out for mercy? After which you hear his voice
in the gospel. declaring his son and saying,
believe on me because I loved you and gave myself for you. Will you hear that voice? A voice
of love, a voice of forgiveness. 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. Be wise now therefore. Oh, this is the wisdom you and
I need. not the wisdom of the heathen
not the wisdom that comes from the kings of this earth and the
rulers of this earth and the people of this earth that sets
us against God not that foolish wisdom of man that causes our
hearts to rage against him and his anointed and to imagine a
vain thing that wisdom brought us into destruction but there
is another wisdom God's wisdom in the gospel, the wisdom of
the cross, the wisdom of salvation in Christ, the wisdom of Christ. There is another wisdom which
we must hear, which we must know, which we must have. Be wise.
There's no wisdom to be obtained from the thinking of men, from
the teaching of men. from the counsel of men. There's
no wisdom in this world of fools. But there is wisdom in Jesus
Christ. He who is called the wisdom of
God. He who himself is the wisdom
of God, the word of God, the speech of God, the wisdom of
God. Hear him. Look unto him. Kiss him. love him, follow him, trust him,
believe on him, be wise now therefore, hear his word, hear his gospel,
look unto the king on Zion's hill, look unto the king crucified
outside Jerusalem for sinners like you and I. Be wise now therefore,
O ye kings, be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the
Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. What do you serve?
What do you serve? Who do you serve? We all live,
we all have strength and energy, we all act, we all work, we all
serve. Most religion in this world is
about serving, working, doing. Most religion will lead you into
hell because it does not serve the living God but serves the
glory and the vain imagination of man who thinks by his own
serving, his own doing, his own works he can gain the favor of
God and get to heaven when really he's serving himself What are
you serving? Are you serving the flesh? Are
you serving your self-satisfaction? Are you serving your body and
your mind, seeking pleasure and riches in this world? Are you
serving the vain imagination of men in this world? Or are
you serving the Lord with fear? And do you rejoice in His salvation
with trembling, knowing that He is Almighty God, knowing that
you answered to Him? Where is your service? Kissed
the son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when
his wrath is kindled but a little. This is the one before whom we
must answer. This is the one unto whom we
will come, the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. O love him, set not your love
upon the world. set not your love upon that which
perishes set not your love upon the wisdom of the world but love
the Son of God O God put love in your heart for Him God put
faith in your heart for Him for blessed are all they that put
their trust in Him blessed are all they that put their trust
in Him trust not in riches for riches perish. Riches cannot
be taken past the grave. Trust not in the counsel of the
ungodly, for they will lead you to destruction. Trust not in
the way of sinners. Trust not in the seat of the
scornful. Trust not in what is here and
here below. But trust in Christ, in Christ
alone. who came as a saviour of sinners
who came as a sacrifice who came into this world of heathen idolaters
who came into this world that rages and hates him and came
because he loved the people chosen from the four corners of the
earth chosen out from every kindred, tongue and tribe. He loved the
people whom the Father gave unto him from before the foundation
of the world. He loved them. He walked amongst
this world. He walked in the world that raves
and hated him. He walked amongst the ungodly. He walked amongst those who rejected
him and spat upon him and sought to put him to death. In the end
he was put to death. But when they put him to death,
out from the grave came everlasting life. When they thought they'd
put the Son of God to death, they brought forth through Him
the greatest victory ever wrought in this world. When they thought
they'd won their battle, their war against God, God defeated
them all. When the evil one thought he
destroyed God's Son, God brought forth His Son from the grave
and crushed the evil one underfoot, and crushed all his enemies underfoot,
crushed the heathen who rage underfoot, and brought forth
an everlasting victory, everlasting salvation. Has He brought it
forth for you? Have you kissed the Son? Do you
trust in Him? Why do the heathen rage, and
the people imagine a vain thing? 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. Amen.