I want you to remember the title
of this message now. I'm going to speak to you today
on the subject, Jesus Christ, Our Only King. Now remember that. Jesus Christ, Our Only King. And my text is found in the book
of Psalms. I'll be reading and speaking
from Psalm 2. I believe that you'll be greatly
blessed by this message. I think it'll be a blessing to
you, but perhaps even more if you'll get a Bible and follow
as I read the scriptures. I'll be going verse by verse,
there are 12 verses in this Psalm 2. And I'll be going from verse
1 through verse 12, the Lord willing. And the subject is a
subject you've heard a lot about in the past several months. Jesus
Christ is our only King. Now let me say this about Psalm
2. I'm sure that this Psalm has
a reference to King David and the establishment of David's
throne in Israel. Notwithstanding the opposition,
the enemies, the turmoil, David is going to reign over Israel
as the only king. God has established that, and
that's what this psalm primarily, or in the first place, refers
to, David's throne in Israel. But the eye of faith, people
who understand that many of these psalms are what we call messianic
psalms, and the eye of faith will see that this is a messianic
psalm. This is a psalm not about David,
all together, but about the Son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ,
our Messiah. He's King of Kings and Lord of
Lords. This is about the establishment
of His throne. The subject of this psalm, as
a Messianic psalm, is Jesus Christ is our only King. Now the purpose
of God in all things is to exalt and honor his Son. That's the
purpose of God, that in all things Jesus Christ may have the preeminence. That's God's purpose, to exalt
the Son. He said in Philippians chapter
2, Wherefore God hath highly exalted him, and given him a
name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, and every tongue confess, in heaven, in earth,
and under the earth, that Jesus Christ is Lord of lords and King
of kings to the glory of God the Father. And in spite of all
the opposition from demons and men, the Lord Jesus Christ is
King, and His kingdom is forever, and His rule is forever over
God's entire universe. The Lord reigneth, the Lord Jesus
Christ reigneth. Let all the earth rejoice. Jesus
Christ is our only eternal sovereign King. Now let's look at Psalm
2. The Messianic Psalm which exalts
and magnifies the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And there
are four natural divisions for this Psalm. First of all, verse
1, 2, and 3, the world speaks. And in verse 4, 5, and 6, the
Father speaks, God the Father. And in verse 7, 8, and 9, the
Lord Jesus speaks. And verse 10, 11, and 12, the
preacher speaks. Now that's the natural division
of this psalm. If you've got it there, look
at it. And I'll start with verse 1, 2, and 3. Now it says, Why
do the heathen rage? And why do the people imagine
a vain thing? The kings of this earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord God and against
His anointed, saying, Let us break their bands. Now, what
are bands? They're halters, rules, laws. Let's break their bands asunder. Let's cast away their cords.
What are cords? They're values. principles, morality,
let's cast their cords aside. Now that's our day. Presidents and kings and rulers
and courts and lawyers under the guise, under the guise of
separation of church and state, liberty, human rights are determined
in this day to do away with any recognition of the Lord Jesus
Christ as King. Any obedience to His law and
any submission to Him. Listen to the world speak. Isn't
this what's going on today? The kings of the earth, the presidents
and rulers and lawyers and courts set themselves and the rulers
take counsel together against the Lord God. and against his
son, against his anointed, who is Jesus Christ. And they say,
let's break their bands, their laws, the laws of God, the laws
of Christ, the rules, the order of God. God has an order. He
has an order for the world. He has an order for governments.
He has an order for the church. He has an order for the home.
He has an order for all things. Let's cast their bands aside.
Let's cast their cords from us, their morality. principles and
values of God. We don't want to have that reigning
over us. Now, here's what the idea is
behind all of this. The idea is that God can rule
in heaven. That God stay in heaven and let
him rule and let him be God up there. And God can dwell in our
cathedrals. God can dwell in our temples.
And God can dwell in our synagogues, and God can live in our church
buildings, which we built for Him. Just let Him stay there.
But He's not welcome in our homes, and in our schools, and in our
businesses, and in our government. God can be the giver and the
forgiver, but not the king. God can send the sunshine and
the rain, and make our crops to grow, And God can be there
when we need comfort. But God is not going to be our
King, our only King. Jesus Christ, that's all right.
He can reign in heaven, He can stay in the church, and He can
be what He wants to be in those two places. And He can be our
teacher of theology and spiritual matters. He can be our healer,
and He can even be our Savior. Like the people in His day, We
will not have this man reign over us. He is not the king. Since the creation of all things,
there's been this effort to do away with God as king, as ruler,
as sovereign over all. This was Lucifer's sin. This
was Satan's fall. That's right. You can read it
in Isaiah chapter 14. And this is what it says about
Lucifer. How art thou fallen from heaven? How art thou fallen
from heaven? The Savior said, I saw Satan
fall as lightning from heaven. And Isaiah said, Lucifer, son
of the morning, how hast thou fallen from heaven? For thou
hast said in thine heart, watch it now, here is Satan's sin. He was once an angel. He was
once one of the three named angels, Lucifer, Gabriel, and Michael.
That's the only three that are named in the scripture. And he
was one of them. Son of the morning, thou hast
said in thy heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will ascend above
the heights of the clouds. I will be like God. I will be
above the most high. God will not be king. I'll be
king. And he fell. Was this not Adam's
sin? In Genesis 3 verse 4 through
6, what did Satan say to Eve when he was tempting her to take
the fruit? He said, you'll be like God.
God won't reign over you. You'll be like God. You'll reign
in your own place. You'll be your own king. You'll
be your own leader. You'll be like God. And so when
they saw, when they realized that the tree was good for food,
that it was pleasing to the eye, and desired to make one like
God, to make one wise like God. They ate it and they fell. This
was the cry of Calvary. My friend, in what character
did they harass and persecute Jesus Christ, King? In what character
did the soldiers mock Him as King? They put a crown of thorns
on His head. Filthy robe on his back they put a reed in his hands
and they bowed the knee and said hail king of the Jews in What
character did the crucify? Over his cross were these words. This is Jesus of Nazareth the
king King they crucified him because they would not let him
be king Pilate said to them listen here in John 14 verse John 19
verse 14 behold your king And the people cried away with
him. Crucify him. We have no king but Caesar. That's what they cried. That's
what Lucifer said. He can't be king. That's what
Adam said. He can't be king. That's what
they said at Calvary. He can be teacher, healer. He
can be good prophet. He can be all these things. But
he can't be lord of lords and king of kings. We won't have
this man reign over us. And the psalmist asked this question.
Why do the people rage? Why do they rage? Why do the
heathen rage? Why do they imagine such a vain
thing? Let us cast his cords from us.
We'll not have God to be king. His laws are perfect. His rule
would be good for everybody. Thou shalt not kill, that's a
good law. Thou shalt not steal, that's
a good law. Thou shalt not commit adultery,
that's a good law. I shall not covet, I shall not
bear false witness. What's wrong with these laws?
These are good laws. Where he is worshipped, there's
peace. Where he is known and loved, there's joy, there's love,
prosperity. Go to a home where Christ does
reign, where people know him and love him and worship him.
There's peace. The homes stay together. The parents and the
children live together. They're raised in the nurture
and admonition of the Lord. It's good. His true gospel, when
it's believed, it turns a thief into an honest man. Many a thief
has been turned into an honest man by the gospel of Jesus Christ,
by believing that he is Lord. Many a drunk has turned from
drunkenness to sobriety. Many a cruel person has become
a gentle person. Why? When Christ came into his
heart, When he recognized and received Jesus Christ to be his
King, his Lord, he becomes a different person. By his grace, he gives
eternal life. This is what the psalmist is
asking. Why are they raging? Why are they imagining such a
foolish thing? We'll not have this man reign
over us. He cannot be king. He gives eternal life. He gives
glory. He gives happiness. He gives
hope to the hopeless. He gives comfort to the brokenhearted.
He gives liberty to the captives. Why do they rage? Why do they
imagine a vain thing? What is a vain thing? It's a
hopeless thing. It's an impossible thing. To
do away with the rule of God is impossible. He is, He was,
He always will be Lord of lords and King of kings. Only a fool
says, no God for me. That's what scripture says the
fool has said in his heart. No God for me and my friends
to challenge God To challenge the Sun is an empty scheme. It's a vain thing. It's a hopeless
war It's a foolish endeavor because the Lord God omnipotent reigneth
He reigneth Well the world has spoken The world has spoken The
kings of this earth have assembled themselves together and set themselves
and said, we'll cast his cards away. We'll do away with his
laws. We'll do away with his rule.
We'll do away with his sovereignty. When a man says Jesus Christ
is the only king, we banish him into the pits. But he is the
only king. Now the father speaks. I want
you to stay with me now. Verse four through six, the father
speaks. God always speaks in due time. He will speak in due time. It
says here in verse 4, He that sitteth in the heavens shall
laugh. They rage, they imagine a vain,
foolish thing, and God laughs. Did you notice where He is? He's
in the heavens. Back in World War II, when the
bombers and all the fighter planes were being built and sent overseas,
the army realized this. The country that ruled the skies
will win this war. And we did it with the atomic
bomb. We ruled the skies and won the war. Well, I'll tell
you, he that rules the skies is going to win the war. God
sitteth in the heavens. Where's your God? They ask David,
where's your God? We know where our gods are. They're
where we make them and put them. We put them in their little houses.
We build for them, call it God's house. And that's where they
stay. Where's your God, David? He replied
in Psalm 115, 135, My God's in the heavens. And whatsoever the
Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, earth, in the seas, and
all deep places. My God's in the heavens. He that
sitteth in the heavens. Notice his position. He's sitting. They're raging. They're upset.
They're just having a hard time. He's sitting down. One who sits
is calm. One who sits is at rest. One
who sits has finished his work. One who sits is not disturbed
by what's going on outside. He sits. Notice his response
to their terrible opposition to the rulers and the kings and
the presidents and the mobs and the courts and the lawyers and
the liberals. He laughs. God laughs. And he says in the next line,
he holds them in derision. What's the word derision mean?
It means contempt. It means scorn and mockery. God laughs. God holds them in
scorn and contempt and mockery. Let me tell you a story. Israel
had been in Egypt for about 400 years. And the word got around
that God was going to raise up a deliverer and deliver Israel
out of bondage in Egypt. And Pharaoh found out about this
rumor that God was going to raise up a deliverer from among the
people. And so he had all the boy babies killed. He's going
to do away with God's deliverer. This is a vain thing. This is
a foolish thought. He's going to do away with God's
leader and God's deliverer. And how's God going to deal with
this now? How's God going to deal with it? Well, I'll tell
you what he did. Moses was born. That's the deliverer. And God
sovereignly protected Moses. His mother put him in that basket
and put him out on the water and his little sister to watch
him. And then Pharaoh's daughter came down there to the river,
and she saw him, took him home with her. God put the deliverer
in Pharaoh's home, right in his home. Pharaoh's trying to get
rid of the king, trying to get rid of the deliverer, and God
puts him in his home and gave his daughter to take care of
him. to nurse him, and keep him, and dress him, and bathe him.
He gave the deliverer Moses' daughter to be his servant. He
gave Pharaoh's daughter. And then he was educated by Pharaoh's
teachers, the best education the world could offer. He was
taught to make war and to govern by Pharaoh's generals and army. And when he was ready, 40 years
of age, educated by Pharaoh, dressed by Pharaoh, made rich
by Pharaoh, and taught by Pharaoh, and protected by Pharaoh. God
took him out to the desert, kept him 40 years to humble him, to
bring him down off his high horse, to make him the best leader that
the Israelites could have, the one God needed, and then sent
him down there and destroyed Pharaoh's army, and destroyed
his home, and destroyed His people and delivered Israel out. I tell
you, He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. And then shall He
speak to them in His wrath. Speak to them. Oh, how mighty
is the Word of God. God said, He created everything
by His Word, and He'll destroy it by His Word. Men talk about
armies and wars and talk about kingdoms and force, but when
the Lord moves to accomplish His purpose, and deal with his
enemies and bring to pass his covenant and his glory, he'll
do it with a word. With a word. In creation, he
said, let there be light. And there was light. To destroy
Noah's world, he said, let it rain. And it rained. To destroy
Sodom and Gomorrah in their perversion and wickedness and homosexuality,
he said, let it burn. And it burned. To redeem a people
out of every tribe, kindred, nation, tongue unto heaven, he
sent his son called the Word of God. And he came preaching
the gospel to the poor. He came to set at liberty the
captives. He came to heal the brokenhearted.
He came to save the lost. Listen to the next verse, verse
6. Here's the key to this psalm. Yet amidst all this opposition
and clamor evil and rebellion Yet God says in verse 6 the father
speaks. I have set my king. I Have set
my king on my holy hill of Zion I've done. He's my king He's
my king in Hebrews 1 verse 8 unto the son. The father said thy
throne Oh God is forever. I've set my king. He's my king
And he says, I've set, this is my beloved son, he said, you
listen to him. And he says, I've set my king, I've set him. God hath made this same Jesus,
whom you crucified, both Lord, King, Christ, Messiah. God has set him forth to be a
perpetuation through faith in his blood. God set him forth
in promise. God set him forth in prophecy
in the Old Testament. God set him forth in pattern.
And then one day in Bethlehem, he set him forth in person. And
he set him forth in power. Even the rulers of Israel said,
no man could do these things except God be with him. He set
him forth in death and resurrection. He set him forth in heaven at
his right hand. He set him forth as his redeemer
with all the crown rights. I've set my king on my holy hill
of Zion. He's there and he's there to
stay. Jesus Christ. is our only king. And on my holy
hill of Zion. What is Zion? It's the church. When you see the word Zion, it's
the church. True Israel, the true church.
Not churches, but the true church. In Colossians 1.14 it says this,
In whom we have redemption through his blood, Jesus Christ, even
the forgiveness of sins. For by him were all things created,
And he's before all things, and by him all things are held together.
And he is king. He's head of the body, the church.
He is the beginning. He's the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he might have preeminence. Jesus Christ is
the only king. He's king by design. God said,
I've set my king on my holy hill of Zion. He's king by decree. Unto the Son, He said, Thy throne,
O God, is forever." That's my decree. He's king by death. It says in Romans 14, to this
end, to this end, Jesus Christ died and rose again and revived
that He might be Lord of lords and King of kings, both of the
dead and the living. The world speaks. We won't have
this man reign over us. God speaks, he laughs, holds
him in derision, and he says, let me tell you something, I've
set my king on my holy hill of Zion, and he'll reign. And then
the son speaks. The son says in verse 7, I will
declare the decree. I will declare the design. I
will declare God's purpose. Christ is that prophet in Deuteronomy
18. So he has the right and the power
to declare it. It says in Hebrews 1, God spake
to our fathers with the prophets, but he spoke spoken to us by
son. So Christ said, I'll declare
it. I will declare the purpose of the father. I will declare
the covenant of grace. I will declare the blessings
of redemption. And here it is. Thou art my son. That's who he is. Son of God. He was made The son that made
the seed of David, declared to be the son of God. He was made
of the seed of David and became a man, but he's declared to be
the son of God. Thou art my son. This day have
I begotten thee. Ask of me, ask of me, and I'll
give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost
parts of the world for thy possessions. He has a people out of every
tribe, kindred, nation, tongue unto heaven. He's the King of
Kings and Lord of Lords of all people. By God's design, by God's
decree, and by death, our Lord has a people who acknowledge
that He's Lord, and they rejoice that He's Lord, and they know
that He has on His vesture this name written, King of Kings and
Lord of Lords. He goes by that name. He's the
King. What kind of king would he be
without a kingdom? He's the savior. He says, no
man can pluck him out of my hand. He's the shepherd. My sheep hear
my voice. I give them eternal life. They'll
never perish. He's a physician. He heals all
our diseases. He's never lost a patient yet.
He's the bridegroom. He'll never forsake the bride.
He's the atonement. What would the atonement be if
it didn't atone? I'll declare the decree. Thou
art my son this day have I begotten thee ask of me I'll give your
kingdom and the father has now the preacher speaks the last
three verses What does the preacher say? He says be wise now Therefore
all you kings be instructed you judges you rulers you leaders
of the people serve the Lord Serve the Lord with fear Rejoice
with trembling I tell you, my friends, fear without joy is
torment, but joy without reverence is presumption. Kiss the son,
lest he be angry. What is a kiss? It's an embrace
of approval. Secondly, it's an act of gratitude. Thank you. A kiss is an act of
worship. The woman kissed his feet, and
he's worthy of all three. Your approbation, your love,
your gratitude, your worship. Kiss the Son. Bow down before
Him. Jesus Christ is the only King. Always has been, is now, always
will be. And blessed are they, blessed
are they who put their trust in Him. That's the last words
of that Psalm. Blessed are they who put their
trust in Him. Jesus Christ is our only King. Write for the tape and play it
for somebody else. Until next week, God bless you,
everyone.