Well, good morning West Side. I just want to say Nathan kind of actually sold my intro because one of the things that I was gonna Bring up is that you know today is a little different because we're actually starting a new series in the Psalms Last week we finished our kind of one year study in the gospel of Mark and really the main theme that we were tracing through that is Who is Jesus? And we saw that through the gospel of Mark the first thing that Mark even says in Mark 1 1 is the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ The Son of God now as we are going through the Psalms specifically my Psalm today I don't want us to forget this conclusion that we found through the gospel of Mark because the thing is that Jesus Christ is the son of God And there's a reason why we don't want to forget this as we look to the Psalms But for those who do not know what the Psalms are the Psalms are ancient Hebrew poetry That means that the writing style is gonna be a little bit different than you know The narratives within the Old Testament the gospels some of the discourse that's going on in the New Testament with the writings Instead we need to be prepared for poetic devices like metaphor image personification and hyperbole Which basically means that the writer is going to use things to demonstrate a different or he's gonna use these things to highlight different ideas In a style that we may not be used to while the songs are poetic in composition Their purpose is ultimately to be sung prayed and read aloud in an assembly like today The songs are like a hymnal within our Bibles for thousands of years God's people have sung these songs Through these songs we as believers find expression of our beliefs emotions and praise towards our God This is why our title of the series is songs of the soul because through the spirit through the inspired word of God We have access to these prayers and these songs So as we go through these select songs you will notice the diversity of emotions and truths expressing these songs The difference is in prayers and pleas even authorship But even with all this diversity these poms also in point to the Messiah the son of God who is the only saver For sin and the one who we must put our faith in above everything else So really although we have left our study in the gospel of Mark We've no transition to the series we have not left behind the fact that Jesus is the son of God And just like the gospel of Mark these poms will beautifully answer the question who is Jesus So if you have your if you have your Bibles will you open with me to Psalm chapter 2 Psalm chapter 2 Starting in verse 1 Why do the nations rage and the people's plot in vain the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed saying let us verse their bonds apart and Cast away their cords from us he who sits in the heavens laughs the Lord holds them in duration Then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury saying as for me I have set my king on Zion my holy hill I will tell of the decree the Lord said to me you are my son today I have begotten you ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel now Therefore, oh kings be wise be warned over rulers of the earth serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling kiss the son Less he be angry and you perish in the way for his wrath is quickly kindled blessed are all who take refuge in him Now that we have read the passage I wanted to you know How about think about a question ask yourself? What do you personally take refuge in or what do you put your confidence in these examples can range from small to big?
When I think of taking refuge I think of seeking safety or protection from something that poses a threat or problem to me I think we can all relate to this there are many things that we take refuge from in our modern life I think a basic example can be you know our shelter the fact that we're in a building You know we if we were in the middle of a storm we would want to be in Shelter somewhere the obvious answer when we think of refuge is that? Is that we want to be from we want to be protected from something that poses a threat to us Sometimes we forget how much shelter protects us or serves as a refuge until something crazy happens for example two years ago on Christmas night I woke to something crazy a tree had fallen on top of our house It had actually fallen directly on top of my room in that moment I was very thankful that I was not a nomad living in a tent but that I had shelter in that moment Seeking refuge is something is placing our confidence in something outside ourselves to protect us from a threat or problem But there are other things that we put our confidence in as well financially We put our trust in the stock market property or insurance coverage and our ability to afford groceries Politically we put our confidence in political parties and their leaders Scientifically we put our confidence in the experts the modern medicine and technology that we use every day Seeking refuge or putting our confidence in safety or things that are useful is not necessarily a bad thing But it can be if we have started to put more of our confidence in those things above God God is going to and it is also bad if we have deliberately chosen to place our confidence in the things of this world In direct rebellion against God but God is going to crush the rebellion by punishing sin God will not let evil go unpunished At the heart of this passage is this a call to not misplaced your confidence by serving your own self-interest and rebellion against God But to instead seek refuge in Jesus Christ by submitting to him do not misplace your confidence because only Jesus can be your refuge The beginning of the Psalm addresses this willful rebellion Let's look at verses one through three Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together Against the Lord and against his anointed saying let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us The Psalmist asked the question why do the nations rage and peoples plot in vain? Why do they set themselves against God and his anointed? Why do they seek to cast off these bonds?
These questions are rhetorical meaning he is not actually seeking an answer See he is he is not to answer he already knows the answer in fact What gives it away is the mere mention that these things are in vain The Psalmist asked it like this why are they even doing it? Why would these people be plotting in the first place? Why did they even rebel these kings are rebelling against God and his anointed the word anointed literally means Messiah? So these kings are rebelling against God and his Messiah They rebel by casting away their perceived bonds the bonds and cords that the rebellious people are trying to cast away are really God's law and God's son The way that we know this is that Psalm 1 and Psalm 2 go together as kind of an introduction to the rest of the songs The focus of Psalm 1 is delighting in the Lord's law and obeying it and the purpose of Psalm 2 this Psalm is obedience in the son of God Or the Messiah the themes of Psalm 1 and 2 go together and they serve as a foundation for how the rest of the songs are supposed to be seen The whole introduction of the Psalms starts with the truths of delighting in the word of God and seeking refuge in his son So the opposition to God desiring to verse their bonds is simply a desire to disobey God's law and rebel against his son Back when the song was written the author would have understood what threats and raging look like Psalm 2 does not have a listed author inscribed at the top of it like a lot of Psalms But this song is actually ascribed to David in Acts 4 25 David who wrote this song understood the outside of God's reign That people were in complete rebellion David even understood what it was like to have enemies raging and plotting against him When David was a young man he dealt with Saul who even though David was now the Lord's anointed would not give David the kingdom Later in life when David actually rose to power David dealt with many enemies from outside and even he dealt with a rebellion from his own Son who tried to take Israel from him So I'm sure that as David pictures all out rebellion He understands what this will look like and he understands that the opposition to the Lord and his anointed will be great And great it was and still is to the same in Acts 4 23 through 31 The apostles and early church prayed together affirming how great the opposition was and still by using Psalm 2 This is right after the apostles were told by the religious leaders to no longer share the gospel and this is in response This is what the believers the apostles who are just told that pray they said when they were released They went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them and when they heard it They lifted their voices together to God and said sovereign Lord who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them Who through the mouth of our father David your servants said by the Holy Spirit Why did the Gentiles rage and the people's pot in vain the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His anointed for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate along with the Gentiles and The peoples of Israel to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined take place And now Lord look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all Bodness the believers in their prayer acknowledge that the persecution that Jesus or that was happening to Jesus by those plotting and raging in vain Just happened and they even continue to acknowledge that the persecution of Jesus and his followers is still happening That's why they're praying this they're asking for boldness in the face of this persecution What is interesting is that song to recognize is that those who plot against God and his Messiah take counsel together in other words They work together to rebel against God usually when you think of different nations with different political interests You would think of you know them all battling each other to try and get to the top But what's interesting is here It's saying that what unites them is their shared goal of rebellion against God But here the song is makes clear that their shared goal of rebellion makes them allies Acts were highlights this exact reality by showcasing the collaboration of lifelong enemies for example Rome and the Jews They were not fond of each other Ponshes pilot and Herod were political enemies they were rivals But this we see unites them as they persecute Jesus So really what David is making clear here is that there are only two sides to this conflict the side of rebellion and the side of God and his Anointed so let me now ask you this with David's two sides clearly defined What side are you on?
At the heart of this passage is this very question you may not think you are actively plotting against God and his Messiah You may even think that you are neutral to all of this so it doesn't even apply to you But blatant rebellion comes in many forms if you have put your confidence in anything but Christ You are in rebellion against him if you have ignored the question of who Jesus is You have ignored Christ himself and rebelled against him if you have broken any of God's laws You have sinned against him and are in rebellion if any of these apply to you You are among those who rage and plot in vain against God and his mointe and the reason that this is in vain is because God truly Rains and will bring judgment on his enemies reading further Psalm 2 verses 4 through 6 He who sits in the heavens laughs the Lord holds them in the region then he will speak to them in his wrath and Terrify them in his fury saying as for me. I have set my king on scion my holy bill This poetic imagery is meant to convey two truths God sits in heaven He doesn't stand up all worried and anxious about what these people are gonna do to rebel against him He sits there confidently he even laughs at them This is a sharp rebuke of those who had fought against him and his son While the threat to God's authority is met with laughter because it is so ridiculous the punishment for such a rebellion will be severe He will terrify and pour out his wrath in a fury on them But ultimately God's rebuke is followed by an affirmation of his establishment of a king on Zion See Zion is of great significance in the songs It was originally a fortress that King David had conquered But eventually it kind of turned into this symbol of God's promises to the house of David That house of David will reign forever in second Samuel seven verses 12 through 14 It says or God says to David when your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers I will raise up your offspring after you you shall come who shall come from your body and I will establish this kingdom He shall build a house for a name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son So David is writing this Psalm looking forward to this promise when his future son the Lord's anointed Messiah will sit enthroned forever Ultimately God's response in verses 4 through 6 to the rebellion that we first saw in verses 1 through 3 is to say that He has established his own king on his mountain He's holy hills island and really this is a declaration to the enemies of God that their days are numbered That the rebellious people will perish and that these enemies are to look to God and his anointed king in fear Continuing on in verses 7 through 9 says I will tell of the decree the Lord said to me you are my son today I have gotten you ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession You shall break them with an rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel Do you recognize the language? This is a direct allusion to God's covenant with David which is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ This son of God who or the son who God has put on Zion as king is Jesus He is the Messiah or anointed one remember in Mark how this last year we studied the question who is Jesus This is who he is he is the king who is put on Zion to judge the nations And what else does God the kriya of Jesus that the nations belong to him? God will bring the nations into submission by the acts of his king Jesus And really there are two ways that this will happen and two ways that this will be accomplished first is through the gospel I want us to understand something kind of profound two thousand years after Jesus's death and resurrection in a country That has only been around for 250 years in a distance 6,934 miles to be exact from Jerusalem We are still proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ right now.
We are proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ today The gospel has gone out throughout all the world to every nation and will continue to go out until every tribe and tongue has heard the good news of Jesus With this being true the nations are literally becoming Jesus's possession The second way that we see that this will be accomplished is at the end of time Jesus will come back and literally reign over the nations and execute judgment on them When it says you shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them into pieces like a potter's vessel This foretells Jesus's coming judgment on the nations in Near Eastern culture See what the kings of the Near East would do is they would gather all this pottery and write their enemies names on the pottery and Symbolically crush them and smash them into pieces to assert their dominance over their enemies So the imagery here isn't pretty clear. Jesus will judge his enemies judgment is coming It's what Dick was talking about in the great white throne judgment judgment is coming So do we see that no matter what we think about this whether we believe it or not Christ reigns He reigns now and he will reign for all of eternity and his judgment is coming so again which side are you on? He is king, but will you acknowledge that? Will you turn from your rebellion?
Let's look at verses two or song two verses ten through twelve now therefore O kings be wise Be warned over rulers of the earth serve the Lord with fear and rejoice who trembling kiss the Sun Let's be be angry and you perish in the way for his wrath is quickly kindled Blessed are all who take refuge in him We have here a direct call and warning for the rebellious kings to make the wise decision to serve the Lord with fear The call to serve the Lord with fear is also followed with a call to rejoice with trembling See the decision to serve the Lord should be one that is made with lots of rejoicing That is true But it should also be made with reverent fear or a fear that is deserved to serve the Lord with fear is kind of similar to how a Daughter and son might serve their loving father. See not all fear is a bad thing Sometimes it is good to have a healthy fear of those who have been put in authority over you Genuine reverence for a powerful God and powerful king should be accompanied with fear and trembling The call in verse 12 says kiss the Sun less he be angry and you perish in the way For his wrath is quickly kindled to kiss the Sun is a sign of obedience in the ancient near east a subject in order to show his Obedience to his king would come and bow down all the way to the ground face first and kiss his his kings feet or his kings Road and this would be a complete sign of obedience and submission to his king This is a call to turn from rebellion and submit completely to the king as Christians We call this repentance to turn from where you were going to where God wants you to go Call through repentance is ultimately a step of obedience What is genuine repentance genuine repentance is admitting that you are a sinner that you can't do this on your own and that you need a Savior who is Jesus and trusting in that Savior with all you have not below anything else but above everything else and Obedient to his commands to repentance brings about life change The simple truth is that if you are not changing if you're not changing into someone that Christ will want you to be you have not been changed So let us ask ourselves have we kissed the Sun have we bowed to the king in obedience? If you say you believe in Christ, but your life is not in step with God's commandments Can you really say that you obey the king? Does that show complete obedience to the one above you?
I think that this is important for us to examine Is there anything keeping us from obeying the Sun obeying the Sun completely if you have not put your life and trust in Jesus Christ The message is clear. You will perish in the way What does it mean to perish in the way? Well? This is the exact this this way is the exact rebellion But the Psalmist describes in the beginning of the chapter So literally if you do not turn from the way you if you do not pay homage or obey the king You will die in your vain rebellion This death will be more than a physical death It is a spiritual death and separation from God the way of rebellion is truly the road to death But here's the thing the road to life is found in the king you are called to submit to the Psalm ultimately ends with an encouragement Blessed are those who take refuge in him if we turn from our rebellious ways and seek him we will be blessed I want us to really focus on this for a second Blessed are those who take refuge in him now that we have gone through the text we have to ask ourselves Why does this matter?
Why does this even matter? What is the passage trying to tell us the simple truth that this passage has to share is that salvation is found in Jesus Christ alone Salvation is found in Jesus Christ alone. This is both a warning and a blessing Now you may ask yourself Michael. How can this be both a warning and a blessing?
Well for those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ it means life and this is a tremendous blessing But for those who have not put their faith in Jesus Christ It means death if you do not know Jesus this fact should make you very fearful If salvation is truly found in Jesus Christ alone then the warning is this there is no other source of salvation Please do not miss this fact there will come a time when either you leave this earth or Jesus comes back And if you do not face him as Savior you will face him as as him being a judge And if you have not spent any time thinking about seriously about this reality You know sadly have been as foolish and unwise as these rebellious kings This is not a popular thing to hear or to say but if you have spent all of your life building your kingdom focusing on building it here And you have not spent any time thinking about God's kingdom up here You have done it in vain. What happens when you die? What happens next? Some of you think that there's nothing after this and sadly that is mistaken Have you personally given much thought to this?
Again the foolishness of the kings and the people's potting vain is that they have built their kingdom here and not focused on God's kingdom up here When their kingdom is temporary God sits in front in heaven and those who live here on earth as enemies will be judged by the king who lives in heaven You will face God and his king as either an enemy or a loyal subject There's no saving the judgment without complete submission to Jesus Christ as king You need to seek refuge in him because there is no seeking refuge from him Again kiss the son is wise advice to foolish enemies of God The truth is that all of us all of us have a rebellious nature all of us need this advice See I did not become a Christian because I thought I had it all figured out I didn't become a Christian because I'm a perfect person. That's not what I'm trying to tell you I'm trying to tell you that I too have a rebellious nature and I too need to submit to God and his king When I repented and I turned to God as my only refuge This is where the blessing is found. This is where the blessing is found those who seek refuge in him are saved from judgment If you put your faith in Jesus submit to him and lay down all yourself will and all your confidence in everything else He will save you and rescue you from the coming judgment. Will you be counted among the blessed?
This blessing is a wonderful blessing, but this does not apply to everyone You are either made right with God or you are not only those who have a relationship with Jesus and be saved Again, this passage makes it clear that there are only two sides here The sides of those who rage against the Lord and perish in the way of wickedness and those who are blessed because they take refuge in the Lord For those who have not put your faith in Jesus I urge you to trust in him to give up all yourself will to give up building your own kingdom here and to turn and complete obedience to him If you have not put your relationship with or you have not put your relationship in the Lord If you have not trusted in him, please come talk to me Please come talk to me after the service I want you to experience the blessing it is to be under the refuge of this good king For those of us who have put our faith in Jesus. Do you believe this blessing? This song reminds us that even though the nation seems to rage against our God It is completely in vain because God truly reigns and will triumph over all those who rebel Let us eliminate any temptation to put our confidence in the things of this earth above the Lord If we have been truly saved we will desire to serve the King and him alone This week I want us to live out our lives in complete submission to Christ If you as a believer are struggling with anything any sin any temptation any of it you need to turn back to God and back to Christ Turn back to the gospel in which you began that is where true forgiveness is found. That is where we put our hope We don't move on from the gospel as Christians This song is just enough a warning and reminder of us to turn our hope and intention back to God and him alone His gospel is the best way to understand how blessed we are in him Jesus Christ bore our sin He bore your sin on the cross taking the punishment that you deserved from God.
He became a substitute in your place The wrath that God will pour out was poured out on Christ instead of you Do we understand how much of a blessing that is do we live our life? Reflecting that blessing so when you feel tempted to put your trust in anything other than Jesus Christ Remember your life is not your own your life is now Christ You have been transformed by the King you have submitted to the King and we have this promise that blessed are All those who take refuge in him. So church let's take refuge in him. That's right father.
We just thank you so much That you have sent your son not to just merely condemn us in which we deserve but that you sent him to first take Our punishment upon himself as we submit to him Lord I pray that we would live out our lives in complete submission to him And that if anyone here has not put their trust in you Lord that they would not continue in the way of wickedness that ends in vain But that they would put their faith completely in you and your son Or we thank you that we are among the blessed and I pray that we would take refuge in you every day in your sense name amen