I'd like for you to turn back
with me to Psalm 2. When I was about 11 or 12 years
old, we used to play a game called
King on the Mountain. King on the Mountain. We'd find
us a dirt pile. There wasn't any hills in northern
Ohio where I lived. So we'd find a dirt pile or a
little slope And a bunch of us boys would get together and one
of us would get up on top. And the other ones would try
to throw him down. They'd try to drag him down, wrestle him
down, knock him down, anything. Get him down from the top. And
then they'd go up there. And they was king on the mountain.
That's what this psalm is about. God said he set his king on his
holy hill. And you ain't gonna knock him
off. He's king. He's king. Make no mistake about it. He
said, I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. And God's
begetting of his son was from everlasting. This king, God's
purpose in anointing this king, the setting of this king, that's
the very first thing God did in eternity. If I can use that kind of language,
I don't think there is a first thing with God. He did all things.
He is eternal in His being. But for our understanding, the
very first thing He did was anoint this King. Everything else that
takes place in time takes place because of this anointing and
for this anointing. This King. He is King from every
land. He was the Lamb slain, the Scripture
said, before the foundation of the world. And it is this begetting
that caused the rebellious heart of Satan to defy the purpose
of God and drag a third of the heavenly host with him. Over
in Revelation chapter 12, some of you wonder, well, how do you
get that? How do you know he took a third of the angels out
of heaven and all this mess? Turn over to Revelation chapter
12 and I'll show you. Revelation chapter 12 verse 1.
This is a vision. given of the Holy Ghost to John
on the Isle of Patmos. And he's seeing these things.
He's seeing these things in a vision. And there appeared a great wonder
in heaven. John saw a woman clothed with
the sun and the moon under her feet. And upon her head a crown
of twelve stars." Now, this is the church. This is Zion. This
is that holy hill he's talking about. Zion. This is God's church. This church. The Bride of Christ. And she being with child, in
time, this church, through this church, was produced the Son
of God, this King. He'd come into this world in
flesh and blood through a member of this church. She being with child, he's seeing
these things in heaven now. And he's seeing this woman with
child, and she cried, prevailing in birth and pain to be delivered. I'm going to keep reminding you,
he's seeing these things in heaven. He ain't seeing these things
on earth. He's not seeing these things after they come to pass.
He's seeing these things as their purpose to God in heaven. for to devour her child as soon
as he be born." I'm talking about this purpose of God in Christ. Old Lucifer, he saw that in the
purpose of God. And in his heart, he wanted to
devour that child as soon as he be born. He didn't want that
child. He said, I, now wait, he said, I will ascend to the
throne. I'll do these things, not a man,
but me, the son of the morning. John saw these things in heaven
because that's where they were purposed of God and fixed in
God's eternal counsels, and evidently made known to the angels. Now,
there would be no reason for an angel to fall if he didn't
have something to fall from. God evidently instructed His
angels as to their being, as to their responsibility, and
told them something about this coming Redeemer, told them something
about this coming Christ. And when he did, they rebelled.
Satan rebelled and drew with him a third of the heavenly host. Now you can get some more information
over in Isaiah chapter 14 and Proverbs chapter 8 if you want
to look at those this afternoon. But the appointment of Christ
as King of Zion was God's everlasting purpose and decree. Now turn
with me to Acts chapter 13. The second thing I want you to
see This verse here in Psalm chapter 2 also refers to an event
manifested in time. Everything that happens in time
was fixed from all eternity. It was God's predestination. It's God's eternal will and purpose. Nothing is going to come to be
in time that's not fixed of God. He worketh all things after the
counsel of His own will. He told those folks back in Isaiah,
he said, I'll tell you what separates me from your wooden gods and
your gods of silver and your gods of imagination. He said,
I declare the end from the beginning. Huh? Ain't that what separates
the living God? You think we serve the same God,
this religious world? Just tell them about your God,
and the first thing they'll tell you is my God wouldn't do like
this. Oh, I know He wasn't. There's only one that can do
this, the living God. He said, I declare the end from
the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not
yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand and I'll do all my
planning. That's what makes me God. I'm God and beside me there
is none other. Now watch this here in Acts chapter
13. Acts 13 verse 32. He said, and we declare unto
you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto our
fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us, their children,
in that he hath raised up Jesus again, as it is also written
in the second psalm. See that? Thou art my son, this
day have I begotten thee. And as concerning that he raised
him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption,
he said, on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of
David. This eternal begetting was manifested
in time. He is the first born, it tells
us over in Colossians 1, from the dead. Born from the dead. Sovereignly eternal God both
purposed and put His King on His holy hill in Zion to manifest
the glory of His name and the salvation of His elect. And every
blessing purposed of God the Father before the world was.
Every blessing. All spiritual blessings. Ain't
that how He says it in Ephesians chapter 1? Not one blessing outside
of this, but all these eternal blessings. was designed and given
to a people chosen in Christ before the world began. That's
right. There ain't no blessings outside
of Christ. I don't care what the man says.
I don't care how loud he gets. I don't care how high he jumps.
I don't care if he can turn water into blood or call frogs. I don't
care what he can do. It doesn't matter. There are
no blessings outside of Christ, this eternal, anointed, Destined,
call Him what you will, Christ. Sovereign over all things. Ever-blessing. This sovereignly
appointed King is to be the medium or mediator of ever-blessing
purposed of God. Through Him, all His chosen,
it tells us in Ephesians 1, have been predestinated unto the adoption
of children. Through Him. That's what it says.
Through Him all His elect are accepted of God. They are accepted
in the blood. They have redemption through
His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of His grace. Now go back with me to Psalm
chapter 2 and let me show you something. Why do the heathen rage? Why
do the people imagine a vain thing? Why do 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?
That's the first thing I want to deal with. What's all the
fuss about? Huh? Ain't that what he's asking
here? What's all the fuss about? What
are you fighting about? What are you kicking for? Why
do you arm yourself? Why do you resist? Why do you
resist what God has set on his hill to save your worthless soul? Why do you kick against it? What
are you fighting about? He's not set here for your destruction. He's set here for your salvation.
He's not set there to send you to hell. He's set there to save
your worthless soul. So what's the fuss? Huh? What are you fussing about? What
are you kicking about? What are you so angry about?
Why do the people of this world despise and resist Jehovah and
his anointed king? God's design in this king is
to save. He said, I came not to enter
this world to judge. I came here to save. This world
is judged already. This world is condemned already.
He didn't come here to condemn. You're already condemned. He
come here to save out of that condemnation. He didn't come to reform. You know, a buzzard doesn't cease
to be a buzzard because he changes his diet from a dead possum to
a dead rabbit. He's still a buzzard. God has
to do something for him inside. He's got to change his nature.
He's got to save his worthless soul. That's what men do. We're all just buzzards. And
religious folks getting up, well, quit eating that old possum here.
I've got a dead rabbit over here. You eat that for a while. Now
you're a Christian. Why fool me? Huh? If you could teach it
to eat corn, its heart would still be on that dead possum
because it's a buzzard. Nature has to be changed. Its
whole being must be created anew. There are three things that every
believer, God brings him to know and to understand. He makes him
to understand what happened in the garden. He knows that. He
don't have to scratch his head. Now, he might not be an orator
about it. I'm not. He might not be able
to stand up there with Charles Spurgeon with all that flowery
language and describe it, but he knows what happened in the
garden. And he knows what happened on the cross. That's his hope,
what happened on the cross. And he knows what happens in
the heart of a sinner when God brings him to faith and repentance.
He knows those three things. He can tell you those three things.
We'd be so much better off when we witnessed if we'd just go
to our relatives and tell them what the Lord's done for us instead
of trying to be theologians. We're not theologians. Just throw
that out the window. Just go tell them what you know. Tell them what God's done for
you in your own experience. Tell them that. God bless that.
A man fell in the garden. He fell into a state of nature
and spiritual depravity. It's described in the scripture
as dead, being dead. That's what it says. He's not
dead mentally. He's not dead physically. He's
dead spiritually. He can design bridges. He can
build rockets and send men to the moon. He can take microscopes
and discover all these germs and diseases and look into things
that no man could ever even imagine looking into. Man, he's wise
mentally. His mental capacity is great. It's great. But he's got no spiritual
discernment. None. Zero. The more wise he is, the more
ignorant he is spiritually. The wisest men, the men who ought
to be able to read this book, who are linguists, who ought
to be able to read this book and tell you in a minute exactly
what's in it. They don't understand anything about it. Why? Because they're dead spiritually. He no longer possesses the ability
or even the desire to know, to seek, or to worship the living
God. How do I know that? Well, I know
that because that's what the Bible tells me, but I know it
by this. Let's just look at Adam. Here's
a perfect man. And he sinned against God. And
when he sinned, God condemned him for his sin. And he took
away, he cursed him. And when he did, he took away
his spiritual nature. He took away all that. He was
separated from God. He no longer knew God. And this
was immediate. It didn't take a year. You know,
things happen with us and they happen over time and we think
about things like that. It happened immediately. Immediately. You had a guilty conscience,
but a guilty conscience won't bring you to God. After the fall,
Adam did not seek God, did he? Now wait a minute. He walked
with God every day. Surely he knew God. Not after
his fall he didn't. If he knew God, he'd have sought
Him. He would have sought Him. He didn't seek Him. He wasn't
seeking God. Never did seek God. God sought
Adam. Adam still didn't come. He heard
the voice of the Lord in the garden and he ran to God. Oh
no he didn't. He ran to the woods. That's kind
of what we do, ain't it? We hear that voice of God in
the gospel. It gets us upset, and we run
from the woods. We run and hide. We run to our
job. Go hide in my job. I'll go hide in my house. I'll
go hide in something. I'll go hide in a book somewhere.
I'll go hide from God. You can't hide from God. That reveals your ignorance.
David said if he took the wings of the morning and flew to the
uttermost parts of the sea and was surrounded by darkness, even
the night should be made light about him. He couldn't escape
the Spirit of God. There's no way to hide from God.
He attempted to hide from God in the trees of the garden. And
then, then, they're going to settle this thing. He got this
guilty conscience, and his wife got a guilty conscience, and
instead of going to God, Instead of trying to find out what God
had to say about this matter, they got together. Now you got
one dead sinner talking to another dead sinner, and they're going
to reason this thing out. And here's what they come up
with. We'll get some fig leaves, and we'll sow them up, and I'll
take care of it. Huh? I'll take care of it. We'll get
this thing covered up. Now that's what happens. That's
what happens. I'm just telling you the truth.
Man fell, and when he fell, he fell into a state of spiritual
depravity. Spiritual depravity. And then
when God confronted Adam, when He confronted Adam, what did
Adam tell him? He said, the woman. Huh? It's the woman. And that wasn't enough, and he
said, it's the woman that you gave me. And pointed his finger
at God. You see anything in any of that
that shows any sign of spiritual reasoning or intelligence? None. Didn't have any. Didn't have
any. Man is spiritually dead. I'm
talking about mankind. I'm talking about any man, every
man, all men. Religious or heathen, educated
or illiterate, successful or just a bum on the street. And
I don't care if he lives in the jungle, got a bone in his nose
and practices the dark arts, or if he wears a mitre on his
head and sits in the Vatican. It don't make any difference.
They're all under sin. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. And there's no difference in
Israel and the heathen. That's what Paul said. And the
reason that he gave is that they're all under sin. They're all under
sin. Destruction, he said, and misery,
read Romans chapter 3, are in their ways. They are together
become unprofitable. Their mouths are full of cursing
and bitterness. There's no fear of God before
their eyes. In their best state, David said,
they're altogether vanity. And all their righteousnesses,
Isaiah the prophet said, are as filthy rags. And Job said
they drank iniquity like water. Now that man, he's dead. He's
dead. As in Adam, all die. I'm not talking about some or
a few or most of them. I'm talking about all. All. And there's no possibility. Oh,
I hope you hear me this morning. There is no possibility of a
man coming to God or coming to repentance or coming to faith
by his own accord. It's never going to happen. Oh, he gets done sowing his wild
oats. He'll keep on sowing his wild
oats. He'll never get done. He'll never get done. Just let
him have his fling. He'll come to himself. That's
his problem. Huh? We think we got problems. We are the problem. With man. Now listen to what
the Lord said. You might not want to hear what
I've got to say, but you better hear what He said. The Lord said,
with man it is impossible. There's no possibility. With
man it is impossible. Here's the condemnation. God
proved it to you. Perfect light came into the world
and men saw Him, heard Him. Heard perfect wisdom. saw perfect
light, was in the presence of perfect love, heard Him, saw
Him, touched Him, handled Him, ate of the food that God blessed
by His own hands and fed to Him. And men love darkness rather
than light. God created man. Sovereignly
put him upon a conditional footing. He gave him every kind of blessing
a man could desire. But he broke his covenant with
God, and he plunged his whole race into condemnation. And his
end, if left to himself, is certain doom. He's not getting better. He's getting worse. He's not
getting more knowledgeable. He's getting more ignorant. Our
Lord said, I'll tell you when the end of time comes. He said,
it'll be as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the
coming of the Son of Man. Every imagination of man's wicked
heart, it's only evil continually. And the only reason God did not
destroy man in the garden is because he set his king in his
holy hill. He sent Him there to save a people
for the glory of His name. That's why He didn't wipe them
out. He gave the whole shooting match
over to Him to save out this worthless mess of people to magnify
and glorify His name. And when He sent this King up,
He trusted everything into His hands, creation, providence,
and salvation. He's the firstborn, Paul said,
of every creature. Creation is not ours to squander. It is not ours to squander. It is His to use for the glory
of God. And man is not his own to serve
himself and his own name, but he belongs to the Lord. And he
is allowed in existence in this world for only one reason, to
serve the Lord. You read about that in Acts chapter
17, when Paul declared to those wise men on Mars Hill, That's
what he tells them. Turn with me to Romans chapter
14. Romans chapter 14 verse 7. For none of us liveth to himself,
and no man dieth to himself. We had nothing to do with our
lives. Nothing whatsoever. You didn't
choose to be born. You didn't have anything to do
with it, did you? Huh? And you ain't got anything to
do with your death either. Let me tell you something our Lord
told His disciples. He said, not a sparrow can fall
to the ground without your fault. A sparrow, a useless old sparrow, something you wouldn't
give two cents for. You don't even think about a
sparrow. You couldn't tell me the last time you thought about
a sparrow. That sparrow can't fall to the ground. Its life
cannot be taken without your father. But you think you're
going to die by your own will? You'll die when God takes you
out of this world. And the means, he said, is already
fixed. The means of your death is already
fixed. We've got nothing to do with
dying or living. Our existence on this planet
is solely for the purpose of God's mediatorial king. Look
at verse 8. For whether we live, we live
unto the Lord. And whether we die, we die unto
the Lord. He's not talking about save people
there, honey. He's talking about every man.
Every man. For to this end, verse 9, Christ
both died and rose and revived that He might be Lord both of
the dead and the living. He's Lord. God put Him on His
heel. And in Him, He created all things. He has the power. He has the
right. He has the rule over all men,
living or dead. It's the absolute sovereignty
of this man that natural men and devils despise. He said in
Psalm chapter 2, let us break their bands. Ain't that what
he said? Whose bands? God and his anointing. Huh? Let's break these bands. Now, they'll have him in any
other capacity. You won't preach him. But they
won't take him as sovereign. But you can't have him no other
way. Let's break their ban. Let's get rid of these cords.
These cords of predestination. These cords of election. I ain't
going to have it. Oh, yeah, you will. Oh, yes,
you will. You're going to own up to it.
You're going to bow before Him on your knees. And you're going
to say you're just and righteous in your election of your saints.
Yes, you are. You might not do it here, but
you're going to do it there. Every knee is going to bow. Every tongue
is going to confess Him to be what? Lord. Isn't that the way
you say it? To the glory of God the Father.
You are going to confess it there. Oh, but here, let's kick it.
Let's resist. Let's fight. Let's get rid of
them bands. Let's get rid of them cords.
Men or devils, either one, they don't care what you preach. If
you want to preach a salvation that glorifies man, Anything
that glorified man. But no man apart from the Holy
Spirit of God will turn his soul's destiny over into the hands of
God's King where it is anyway. Huh? He ain't going to do it.
What are you talking about, preacher? I'm talking about your whole
life. Your whole life. I'm talking
about your children, your grandchildren, your job, your marriage, your
income, your security, your knowledge, your safety. your life as it
is over to Him. Huh? Brethren, you can't kiss the
Son until you kiss the Sovereign Son. That's right. What am I talking about? I'm
talking about doing what He plainly instructs you to do. I'm talking
about doing not what He plainly instructs you not to do. You're going to bow down to Him.
You're going to listen to Him. You're not going to argue with
Him. That's trying to get rid of them bands. Believers don't
want to get rid of them bands. They're glad about them bands.
If it wasn't for them bands and cords, you'd be with the rest
of them. It's them bands and cords that bind you and hold
you and make you one with Him. Kiss the Son. To see the goodness
of God's rule established in Him, salvation accomplished in
Him, God's kingdom established in Him. That word kingdom means
rule. That's what that means. When
he's talking about establishing the kingdom of God, he's talking
about establishing His rule. His rule. To see Him ordering
all things, governing all things. Read about these apostles, these
saved men of God. Read about them. The first thing
they told you was about their exalted Lord. The same Jesus
that you took out here and killed with wicked hands, that same
Jesus, God made Him Lord. He's Lord. He'll save your soul
or pass you by. He's Lord. He's not up there
doing what you're going to let Him do. He's up there doing what
God anointed Him to do. Kiss the Son, he said, the reigning,
omnipotent, sovereign King of Glory. Kiss the Son as God has
set Him forth in His priesthood. Kiss the Son as the prophet through
whom God now speaks. Kiss the Son as God has set Him
forth as the propitiation for our sin. Kiss Him. Kiss the Son as the head of the
church and the husband of His bride. It's these holy, loving,
sovereign bands that men despise. And there's only one reason why
any man would despise this rule, and that's because he thinks
himself to be more worthy, righteous, and fit to rule than the Christ
God put on the hill. That's right. Ain't no other
reason to fight, is there, John? Huh? Man can't preach unless
God's anointed him. Ain't that what he said? How
shall he preach except he be sent? Well, God sends him, you
better listen to him. That's right, because his king
sent him. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ. Ain't that what he said? As though
God did beseech you by us. Oh, preacher, that violates the
free will of man. No, it don't. That's the hand
of God reaching down into the pit where man is held captive
and bringing him up out of there. That's what that is. God doesn't drag men into glory.
He simply opens their eyes to see the King. When they see the
King, John, they're willing. Huh? They don't fight no more. I see the King. I see why He's
there. I see why God anointed. I see
God's grace in Him, His mercy in Him, His love in Him. Huh? Now I'm ready to seek Him,
ain't you? I'm sure you are. When you seek, you'll never serve,
seek, worship, or bow to God's King until you see His authority
established to save our worthless soul. Listen to His prayer. He incorporates this sovereignty
into everything. I was amazed when I started looking. Listen to His prayer. Glorify
thy son, that thy son may also glorify thee, as thou hast given
him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given him." Huh? Listen to his commission. All power is given unto me in
heaven and earth. Now you go and teach all nations
and baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Ghost. Why? Because I have all power. And
that power is a saving power. Listen to his exhortation. Who
art thou that judges another man's servant? To his own master
he standeth or he falleth. Yea, he shall be holding up where
God is able to make him stand. Listen to his commandment. Go
into Jerusalem and wait there. You tarry there until you be
endued with power from on high. Huh? It's all based on that king
on that hill. He's king on God's mountain.
You ain't going to knock him down. God put him there to save. He put him there to call, to
justify, to show mercy. And that's what he's going to
do. And you're foolish, I'm telling you, you're foolish if you start
fighting against these bands. You're fighting against God.
You're fighting against God. If you're here today and you're
still fussing over the gospel of God's sovereign grace in Christ,
my advice to you is to bow down and kiss His feet. Kiss His feet. Pharaoh told Moses, he said,
here's what you're going to do. You're going to get out of here,
and you ain't going to take this with you, and you ain't going
to take that with you, and I'm going to have my way. He said,
no, that ain't what's going to happen. What's going to happen
is all your servants are going to come down and do what? And
bow down and beg me to leave. And then I'm going to leave.
And your dogs ain't even going to wag their tongue when I walk
out. Kiss his feet. He's King. He's King. Kiss the Son lest He be angry. Lest He be angry and you perish
from the way. Blessed are all they that put
their trust in Him. God has set His King on His holy
hill in Zion. And God tells us the end of all
those that oppose Him. First of all, He said, He that
is in the heavens with a laugh. You remember back last summer,
we had a bunch of grasshoppers. You was out in the yards in your
cutoffs, had your tennis shoes on, the little grasshoppers fly
over and land on your foot. Did you fall down on the ground
and scream and tremble? No. You took your foot like that
and shook him off. You know what God says about
His Christ. He said he sits on the circle of the earth and all
the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers. And these grasshoppers
are all down there chirping and making a bunch of noise and running
around and don't even know where they're going. And God will laugh.
He just laughs. He laughs. Secondly, he says he'll have
them in the region. He'll make a public display and
mockery of them. He'll expose them now to His
elect and in that day before all men. And then thirdly, He'll
speak unto them in His wrath and vex them in His sore displeasure. Now, I want you to listen to
something. This is on John chapter 3. He that believeth not the
Son shall not see the light, but the wrath of God abideth
on him. Oh, but he's hearing some things.
Yeah, he sure is. He's hearing the wrath of God.
He'll speak to them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure. I remember, I was a member of
this little community church. They were very superstitious
in their religion and stuff. And if you brought notes up to
the pulpit, They just discounted you as anything, being of God
or anything. And one of the old preachers
told me one time, I was really getting frustrated with it, and
he told me, he said, just open your mouth and God will fill
it. I said, yeah, but what's He going to fill it with? What's He going to fill it with? He's filling mouths right now
today, but He's speaking to them in His wrath, and He's vexing
them in His sore displeasure. And then thirdly, or that is
the third point, he filled in full of wrath. But listen to
this scripture. Because they received not the
love of the truth that they might be saved, and for this cause,
God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie
and be damned. You don't want God to speak to
you in His wrath. Listen to Him when He's speaking
to you in His Son. In His last days, He's spoken
unto us by His Son. Don't try to sever those bands.
Don't try to cast them cords away. Those are cords of love
and bands of mercy and grace. Grace is not your enemy. Grace
is your friend. People look at election and fight
it like it's some kind of enemy with a sword. Election's an open
door, not a closed door. Wasn't for election, nobody come.
Nobody comes. Oh, we see Him on His hill. That's my hope. That's why I
come in here and my heart can rejoice because I can see His
King on that holy hill. And so long as He sits on that
hill, He's King, isn't He? He's King on the mountain. I'm
happy with that. May God be pleased to make you
happy