In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes that God is not intimidated or hiding from any challenges. He laughs at those who oppose Him and holds them in derision. Despite the opposition, God shows mercy by speaking to those who displease Him, giving them an opportunity to change their ways. The preacher highlights the importance of serving the Lord with fear and rejoicing with trembling, acknowledging God's greatness while finding joy in Him. The sermon concludes with a call to submit to God and kiss the Son, recognizing His authority and submitting humbly to Him.

And you should know that many people suggest, I think erroneously, that Psalms 1 and 2 were joined together at one time, that they formed one unit. I don't think this is true because in Acts chapter 13, the Apostle Paul quotes Psalm 2 and he describes it as the second psalm. But there are some parallels between Psalm 1 and Psalm 2. That's one of the reasons why we take them together tonight. The Psalm 2 has to do with the reign of the Lord's anointed. And like many of the Psalms, the theme of Psalm 2 is emphasized in the final verse. So the only way we're going to get to the final verse is to start at the first one. So let's start digging our way through it. Verse 1. Why do the nations rage and the people plot 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 bonds and pieces and cast away their cords from us. You see the psalmist, don't you? He's sitting looking around the world. He's looking at the kings of this world. He's looking at the world scene going by and he's saying, why do the nations rage? He's truly mystified by this. What's up with that? He says. The nations have no reason to rage against God. What God do against them? There's a loving God in heaven who wants only to bring blessing and goodness into your life. Why are you mad at him? Why are you sore at God? But not only is there no reason for the nations to rage against God, there's no benefit in the nations raging against God. Their opposition against God is nothing but a vain thing. It's fruitless. It's folly. You know, one of the great things about this psalm, and I may as well just lay some of the cards out on the table right here. This psalm is all about how foolish it is to oppose God, how crazy it is. You know, you think about it, just think about your physical body. God designed your body to live a Christian life. He did not design your body to live an ungodly life. What you go out and live an ungodly life, you live an ungodly life where you worry about everything and stress fills your body. Now, is that good for your body or bad for it? It's horrible for it. People have heart attacks and strokes all the time because they're ungodly and they don't trust God and their lives are filled with fear and anxiety. And, you know, God didn't make your body for that. He didn't make your body to live ungodly. He made your body to live Christian. And then there's another person there, they're sexually immoral. Well, you see how that works on your body, the disease or the dissolution or the hollowness that it brings into your soul. Is that how you were made to live? Is that how God designed you? No, he made your body to live Christian. From the very core of your being, God designed you to follow him. And when you reject that and go your own, it's a vain thing. Why did the nation's rage? Why are they opposing what can't be opposed? Look at it there. Even the verse to the rulers take counsel together. What are they, nuts? Let's get together. You know, if we get a bunch of men to oppose God together, you know, two heads are better than one and 100 must be better than two. If we come together, then maybe we can oppose God effectively. What are you, crazy? Since the time of Babel, men have continued to band themselves together against God. They feel it's more effective, but it's not. They come against the Lord, they come against his anointed. And what do they say? Did you notice it there in verse three? Let us break their bonds in pieces. Oh, how the world says this to God every day. Oh, God, you just want to bring bondage into my life. Oh, God, that bondage of obedience unto you. Oh, Lord, you know, I don't want all God, I want to take these bonds, you want to I want to break the bonds that you put upon me. Those who oppose the Lord and his anointed, they think of God as a bondage bringer. And that's insanity, because God is a bondage breaker, not a bondage bringer. He's here to set you free. You know, to the person who's ungodly, the yoke of Jesus Christ seems like an intolerable burden, though they can't stand it. But to the saved person, what did Jesus say? My yoke is easy. My burden is light. And are you chafing against the bonds that the Lord put in your life? Now, the Lord told you, don't do this. And don't don't you do this? I'll just use it. I'm not picking on any particular sin or anything here this evening, but let's just take that sin of anxiety and God's convicting you about the excessive worry that you cling to the fear that you cling on to. And, you know, you kind of hold on to it, but you don't really know. Listen, God didn't tell you to not worry, to bring bondage into your life. He said it sets you free from it. He's a bondage breaker, not a bondage bringer. But the the world looks and they say, oh, we want to break their bonds in pieces. Now, what does the Lord do? What does the Lord do when men oppose him? What does the Lord do when the kings of nations unite together to oppose God and establish determined plans to to put spite in the face of God? Surely, God, he's pacing around the throne in heaven right now. Oh, what am I going to do? All these people are against me. Look at all the people down there saying bad things about me on the earth. They're taking my name in vain all the time. Oh, another scandal. Oh, no. God says, what am I going to do? He's worriedly pacing back and he's asking the angels for advice, isn't he? Gabriel, can you help me out? Michael, just a little piece of advice, please. No, not look at what God does right there in verse four. He who sits in the heaven shall laugh. The Lord shall hold them in derision. Then he shall speak to them in his wrath and distress them in his deep displeasure. Yet I have set my king on my holy hill of Zion. God looks at the way that man opposes him, that man plots against him. And what does God do? He laughs. He laughs from heaven. He's not afraid. He's not confused. He's not depressed about the opposition of man. God laughs at it. Now, why does God laugh? It tells you right there. He laughs because he sits in the heavens. He's not even bothering to get up. You know why he doesn't bother to get up? Because he's in total control. And you can relate to this. What's the most prized possession in your home? Well, it's probably the television set. The second most prized possession, the remote control to the television set. And why do you love that remote control? Why do you get so angry when you can't find it? Because that's power, baby. You can sit right where you are and change the channels. When you can sit down and other things are done for you, that's power. God is not upset. He can laugh in heaven because he sits in the heavens. He sits as a great king on a glorious throne. He's not pacing back and forth in the throne room of heaven, wondering what he's going to do next. He sits in perfect peace and assurance. But let me tell you what, he also laughs because he sits in the heavens. It's not an earthly throne that he occupies. It's the throne of heaven, the throne of authority over all creation. What does heaven have to fear from earth? Nothing. God's not trembling. He's not hiding behind his vast heavenly barricade. He's not counting the enemy and calculating if he has enough power to counter the new challenge. He just says, and James Montgomery Boyce wrote it in his commentary, he said he simply laughs at these great imbeciles. You're crazy. You're nuts. Now, it also says there in verse four that he shall hold them in derision. Now, through the centuries, many people have opposed Jesus Christ. They've been determined opponents of Christianity and the kingdom of God. And each one of these opponents shall be frustrated and crushed. Every one of them. You want to commit suicide, so to speak. You put yourself against God and his plan. And you will not succeed, period. I'll give you a famous, it might be an obscure example to you, but it's a famous one. A famous opponent of Christianity was a Roman emperor named Diocletian. He ruled at the end part of the third century. Now, he was a determined enemy of Christians and he persecuted the church mercilessly and he fancied that he had defeated Christianity. He struck a metal with this inscription, the name of Christianity has been extinguished. In Spain, which in those days was the frontier of Diocletian's empire, he set up two monuments that had these inscriptions. See if I can handle this name. Diocletian, Jovian, Maxim and Hercules, Cesar Agusty for having extended the Roman Empire in the east and the west and for having extinguished the name of Christians who brought the republic to ruin. Another one says Diocletian, Jovian, Maxim and Hercules, Cesar Agusty for having everywhere established, abolished, I should say, the superstition of Christ and for having extended the worship of the Roman gods. Well, Diocletian thought he was hot stuff. I got news for you. He's dead and gone. He's a footnote in the pages of history. The fame and glory of Jesus Christ is spread all over the earth. The Lord will hold them in derision. That's all there is to it. Let me tell you something else. You look at the modern day world scene and you can say the same thing. You look at those people who oppose Christianity. You look at the leaders of Islam or other hostile world religions. They will not succeed. You look at those people who attack God's chosen people, the Jewish people, the seed of Abraham, whom God said, I'll bless those who bless you and I'll curse those who curse you. They're going to go down. What happened? They read the pages of history and they just look at the 20th century. Adolf Hitler, I'm going to destroy the Jewish people. Oh, and he gave it his best shot. He applied the best technology and the most vicious methods against them. The Jewish people thrive. Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Germany is dead and gone. You don't have to even go back even in previous centuries. The Christian church was never, never so weak and decrepit as when it persecuted the Jewish people. You go back and find all sorts of evidence through history, friends. To be against God is to be on the losing side. Absolutely. And what will God do to those who displease him, who who oppose him in this way? Look at it. Verse five. Man, this is the mercy of God. He shall speak to them in his wrath. I mean, that's amazing. You know, God should just say, oh, defiant man, go straight to hell. Go directly to hell. Don't pass. Go don't collect two hundred dollars. Just hell for you. But you know what God does first, he speaks to man. He says, I'm going to give you an opportunity to change your ways. I'm going to inform you about the foolishness of the way that you're on. I want to try to give you a little clue here, friend. God speaks to them first. He has every reason and every right to simply act against defiant man. But love and mercy compel God to speak a word of warning before he acts. And look at what he says. I love it here in verse six. This this is the word that he said that bums out the nation so much. I've set my king on my holy hill of Zion. You know what? Jesus Christ is going to reign as king. That's all there is to it. Period. God wants defiant man that he's established a king. Now, the defiant men closest in view in the psalm are kings and rulers. And God wants them to know that he is king and not them, that there is a king established and established in Jerusalem. Isn't that marvelous? Look at this decree to the nations. Verse seven. Well, first, it's the decree of the sun. If you look at verses seven through nine, you're going to see that this is the son of God himself speaking. I will declare the decree. The Lord has said to me, you are my son. Today, I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Now, the following passage again, it shows us that this is the Lord's anointed himself speaking. Now, when it says the Lord and his anointed back in verse two, do you know who his anointed is? It's the Christ. Anointed is the Hebrew word Mashiach, from which we get the word Messiah translated in the ancient Greek language. It's the word Christ or Christos. This is referring to the Christ, to Jesus Christ, and this is what the Lord says to him in verse seven. You are my son today, I have begotten you in this, it's Jesus prophetically recalling what God the Father spoke to him, identifying him as the son of the father and emphasizing his standing as the begotten of the father. Today, I have begotten you, it says. You should know that this passage is quoted twice by the writer to the Hebrews and the emphasis important because begotten is an important idea. Do you understand the difference between begotten and created? Jesus was not created, his relationship between him and God, the father is not a relationship of creature and creator. It's the relationship being the only begotten son. Now, the difference is, is that when you create something, it's different in nature than yourself, you could create a statue or a robot that looked very much like you, but it would never be human. It would never have human nature. It would have a mechanical nature. Then again, what you beget shares your same nature. Dogs beget dogs, horses beget horses, people beget people. So when it describes the relationship between the father and the son as begotten by that, you know that the father and the son share the same essential nature. Who's more human, you or your child? Well, I know what you're saying. You think that's certainly a little child of mine. I'm certainly more human than my child. No, you're not. I mean, in a very objective, scientific way. You and your child are equally human. One is not any more human than the other. In the same way, God, the father and God, the son are equally God. They are equal partakers of the divine nature. And he says, I'll give you the nations for your inheritance and you're going to break them with a rod of iron. Did you see that in verse nine? The Lord's anointed as such power over the nations that they're like clay pots that he can shatter with a blow from a rod of iron. Think about that. Here's a nice clay pot. You know, they sell on the streets of Tijuana there. You know, you bring it back. It's a nice clay pot. Look at this nice clay pot right there. What happens if you go and take a crowbar to it? Bah! It just shatters in a hundred pieces. That's the authority that Jesus has over this world. He's the crowbar, this world's the clay pot, or if you will, he's the crowbar. The ungodly are the clay pot. You see, this is why it shows that it's so foolish for individuals and for nations to defy the Lord and his anointed. There's no reason for it. There's no benefit for it. Now, look at the conclusion here at verse 10. Here's the application. You know, after all those words of warning, the psalmist counsels the kings of the earth to give up their foolish defiance of the Lord. He says, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. I love those. I love that phrase there in verse 11. First of all, you serve the Lord with fear. With what? Real reverence towards the Lord. That's how you serve him. You know, if you're serving the Lord in a slack way, in a careless and unconcerned way, you're not serving him with fear. Do you have a boss that you were afraid of? Oh, I've had some bosses like that. I remember way back when I was working in a supermarket, you know, I would stock the shelves at night and man, they would crack the whip on the shelf stockers because those were the only guys in the store that if they got them to work faster, they could go home sooner and would cut down their labor costs. You know, the checker is just there for the number of hours that they're employed for. But the guys who stock the shelves, if they could really light a fire and make them work harder than they would save on labor. So, oh, they would crack the whip on the guys who stock the shelves. And I remember the grocery manager, Doug, and he was a fearful guy. He wasn't imposing. He was kind of a short guy. You know, it's not like he had all this unpleasant face. Oh, but he just had this this manner about him that he probably cultivated in management school just to try to terrify people. He just wanted you to be afraid of him. He wanted that fear to motivate you to more diligent work. Now, the Lord doesn't want you to fear him in that way, but he certainly does want you to have a reverence for him and appropriate respect. Have you ever worked for somebody that you love so much that you just don't want to let them down? That's a different kind of fear, isn't it? The fear isn't so much of them. The fear is in you because you don't want to let them down. So as it says there in verse 11, serve the Lord with fear. But I almost like the second phrase better. Rejoice with trembling. It's like the two don't go together, do they? How do you rejoice with trembling? Well, you're happy in the Lord. But at the same time, you just realize how great God is, how marvelous he is. And you have an appropriate trembling before him. And then it says finally, verse 12, kiss the son lest he be angry. You know, this primarily has in mind the kiss of submission where the dignitary receives the humble kiss of an inferior. I'm sorry, I can't get it out of my mind. You know, there's mafia movies where, you know, the the person comes and he kisses the mafia Don's ring. You know, yes, Godfather, on all that business. Well, it's not like God's a mafia boss, but he wants you to come to Jesus, giving him that reverence, that humble kiss of the inferior. But it also says kiss the son, not just kneel before him or bow before him, because it speaks of the affection that God wants in your relationship with him. God does not want you to have a cold relationship with him. God wants you to have a warm relationship, one full of affection and longing. Now, if the kings of the earth. And the judges of the earth are commanded to humble themselves before the Lord and his anointed, if they're to recognize his total superior superiority, then what about us? Man, how we should recognize and reverence the Lord, because, look, blessed are all those who put their trust in him. Those who defy God are broken, but those who depend on him are blessed. So there's a choice for tonight, broken or blessed. That's what the Lord puts before us. Father, we pray that you would. Persuade us deeply. To come and humble ourselves before you, Lord, I pray that there would be a compulsion, a virtual haunting of us, Lord, until we come and really bow before you and and humble ourselves before you appropriately. We want to be those blessed men and women planted by the rivers, Lord, full of fruit and and leaves that that honor you. We bless you, Lord. We honor you together here this evening. How we love you, Jesus. And thank you for your word in Jesus name. Amen.