In this sermon, the speaker discusses the current state of the world and the emptiness that people are experiencing in their lives. He identifies two main issues: international conflict and individual confusion. The speaker then explores the causes of these problems, comparing them to a horse trying to break free. However, he emphasizes that God is in control and will ultimately triumph. The sermon concludes with a call to wisdom, reverence, and serving the Lord.

Why do the nations rage? Now that's a question a lot of people are asking and a lot of people seem to think it's a new kind of question. Nothing new about it, it's as old as Psalm 2. Why do the nations live in continual tumult? That's the literal translation of it. Second question. And why do people fill their minds with emptiness? That's another good question people are asking today. Answer. The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his Christ, saying, Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sword his pleasure. Yet I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree. The Lord has said unto me, Thou art my son. This day have I begotten thee. Ask of me and I will give thee the heathen, thine inheritance, or the nations, thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron. Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Be wise now therefore, O ye kings. Be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the sun. Lest the Lord be angry and you perish from the way when his wrath is kindled easily. Blessed are all they who put their trust in God." Now that's an old, old psalm asking some very up-to-date questions and coming out with some pretty straightforward answers. Now we'll just go out to make it make a whole lot of sense to us. The first thing I want you to notice in our study of this psalm, entitled World in Tumult, is an evaluation of the situation. The psalmist has been sitting down and asking himself some very pertinent questions because of the conditions that prevailed at that particular time. It's very interesting to notice that whatever the conditions were that prevailed in his day, there's no question about it that the conditions that prevail in our days are very, very similar indeed. The first thing that he noticed was this, that the heathen were raging. Whenever you came across the word heathen in the Bible, don't automatically think of some boneheaded savages running around in a stone age culture. That isn't what he's talking about at all. The heathen means the nations. We must remember of course that the Hebrews regarded anybody who wasn't one of them as the heathen or the other nations. And so don't get any peculiar connotations on this term. Why do the heathens rage? The word rage is the word that is used to describe a rough sea. I don't know if you've ever stood on the sea coast. Incidentally, that's one of the few things I miss in this part of the world. Born in a little country like England where you're never far from the sea. We used to often go down to the sea on a rough day and the great waves would come in and you'd just smell the salt and feel the sheer weight of the whole thing. Well, we miss that. But this is the picture here, the picture of the great waves of the sea tossing and turning and billowing and roaring. What a very graphic picture this is. Now the same term is translated in the New Testament and the Greek word that is used to give the same idea, is the word described, used to describe a horse that is tethered and he's trying to get away. And it's pawing at the ground and his nostrils are flared and it's snorting. And I think in those two pictures you've got a pretty accurate picture of what's going on in the world today. It just seems as if the nations of the world are like great big roaring waves, roaring and crashing and upheaving against each other. Or it just seems as if they're like horses that are trying to get away and they're snorting and flaring at their nostrils and rearing up and pawing the ground. Why is it happening? International conflict on every hand. The second question that he raises concerning the conditions prevailing in his time was was the individual confusion. Why do people imagine vain things? Now two words you need to notice here, the word imagine and the word vain. Read the book of Ecclesiastes sometime, it'd be one of the cleanest parts of your Old Testament, but read it. And the word that occurs over and over again is vanity. Now vanity isn't a lady sitting too long in her mirror, in front of her mirror while her husband's honking a horn down on the drive. That's not, that's not what it means. Vanity just means emptiness, absolute nonsense. And the writer of Ecclesiastes comes to a conclusion that as far as life is concerned, you name it, he's tried it. And the conclusion is this, vanity of vanity, all is vanity. In other words he said, you name it, I've done it. I've tried wealth, I've tried success, I've tried pleasure, you name it, I've done a lot. And the simple fact of the matter is this, it is one great big zero. That's what the Bible means by vanity. Now he says, why do the people imagine vanity? The word imagine means, why do they set their minds on? Now this was the question that was troubling the psalmist, this is a question that's troubling people today. Not only are we concerned about international conflict, but we're also concerned about individual confusion. Why is it that people are searching and looking? Why is it that many of them in absolute desperation are trying to find something of substance? Why is it that so many people are just captivated by the idea that they've got to get a philosophy to work? This last week I shared the ministry in Toronto, Canada with the General Secretary of the Evangelical Fellowship of India. So guess where I've been asked to go now. And he was a delightful character. And he told me something very, very interesting. He told me that not very long ago, India welcomed missionaries from the Western world. But he said, the situation has changed now. He said, don't misunderstand me, it isn't that we don't welcome them anymore, but now it is simply this, that India is being inundated by young people from Europe and America who are looking for answers in Eastern mysticism. And he said, a very large part of our ministry now is not reaching at Indians, it is reaching the young people from the Western world with a message that will bring substance to their vacuum. Isn't that interesting, how things change? You see, everywhere, in all kinds of areas, people are looking at the emptiness of their own lives, they're seeing the vanity of all that they've tried, they're coming up with the conclusion that nothing is really working, and they're trying to find some answers. Now then, the Psalmist sat down in his day, and he looked at the situation, he evaluated it, and he said the two basic things, international conflict and individual confusion. That was a pretty good summary, even if you've been living in Washington D.C. at this present time. But now he goes on, not only to talk about the conditions, but he talks about the causes. And the causes that he comes out with are straight from the shoulder, absolutely no holds barred. Number one, the reason that there is international conflict is simply it is the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, and they are against the Lord and against his anointed. The first cause, he says, is this. He says there is rank arrogance among the leadership. The leaders of the people have set themselves, and they have taken counsel together. Now this very idea of setting themselves, and as I studied this Psalm this week, I underlined themselves and together pretty hard in my Bible, because there's a clue to it. In other words, he says those who are in positions of leadership, and by positions of leadership, I don't just mean the politicians, I mean your playwrights, I mean your novelists, I mean your news commentators, I mean the people who form the opinion of you, I mean those who are writing the pop songs. The leaders who are molding the thinking of people, they've done two things. They have first of all come to a place where they have decided that they're going to set up themselves, and self-sufficiency is the core of their argument. This is utterly ludicrous, because deep in their hearts they are imagining vanity, and they know the vanity of their own hearts, but they turn their minds away from their internal vanity, and set up themselves. And there's nothing so ludicrous as a self-sufficient man who is sufficient in his own vanity. But this is what you'll find in much of the leadership to which we're subjected today. Self-sufficiency. The second thing is self-confidence. They counsel together, and I don't know if you've ever noticed this, but there are at this present time councils meeting on every single solitary thing. And it would appear that most of these councils that meet together, just meet together, that's it. They are simply pooling their intellectual resources. Now don't misunderstand me. I think it's absolutely fantastic what man has done. I think it's unbelievable what man can be trained to do. I think his intellectual ability is absolutely unbelievable, and yet any man who tries to unravel the affairs of this world, and any group of men who try to deal with the affairs of men purely on the basis of their own intellectual ability, are men who are placing self-confidence in their own vanity. And he says that this is at the root of the whole problem. There is a certain arrogance that shows itself in self-sufficiency. There is a certain arrogance that shows itself in self-confidence. And the reason that there's the international conflict, and the reason there's the individual confusion, is simply this. We are being led by people who, in their own arrogance, don't even bother to take God, who is the ultimate, into the reckoning. Now don't let's blame our leaders too much, because maybe we're leaders. Maybe you have an influence. Could it be that you, in your sphere of leadership, are failing lamentably to the people who follow you, even if you're not aware that they do follow you? Could it be that you're failing lamentably to the people who are following you, like your kids, or your pupils, or your employees, or your workmates, for the very simple reason that you portray to them a certain arrogance, because all they can see is a kind of superficial self-confidence, and an overbearing self-sufficiency? Because you are simply breeding more and more people who are beset by conflict, and riddled by confusion. But not only does he talk about the arrogance of the leadership, he then talks about the antagonism to the Lord. Read on in verse 2, "...the kings of the earth set themselves, the rulers take counsel together," but notice, "...against the Lord, and against His anointed." In other words, there is antagonism to the Lord, the Lord being Jehovah, and also His anointed. And we're all aware of the fact that anointed, in the Greek, is Christ. So in other words, what he is saying prophetically here is this. There is arrogance in leadership, there is antagonism to the Lord. Antagonism against the very idea of God in general, and antagonism against the very person of Christ in particular. Now, I don't know which hillside he was sitting on writing this psalm, but I do know this, that if he met in a council of churches at this time, and listened to the talk of all the representatives explaining what was happening in their part of the world, he couldn't have written a more up-to-date report than this. What is the basic problem? There is unbelievable antagonism to the very idea of God in general, and there is unbelievable antagonism to the very person of Christ in particular. Now, don't run away with any ideas here. This doesn't mean to say that in much of our leadership there is lip service given to God. I mean, they'll pray to Him formally. Doesn't mean that we won't have presidential prayer breakfasts. It doesn't mean that we will not say the right things and put the right things on our coinage and have the right flags flying in the right place. It doesn't mean to say that we won't have Bibles publicly displayed, and it does not mean to say that there will not be a kind of godliness, but it does mean to say this, that it is possible to have all these things, but to have a godliness that knows nothing of God being God, and to have a kind of general deism or theism that denies the tremendous control of Christ that Christ alone said was at the root of man's existence. Now, let's look at society today. Is society today beset by international conflict? Everybody agrees yes. Is society today beset by individual confusion? The answer is yes. All right, now let's just look at his suggested reasons. Could it be that there is a certain self-sufficiency and a self-confidence in leadership? The answer is certainly. Could it be that there is a certain antagonism to the Lord? And the answer is there is no question about it. And whilst there is a great interest in many, many areas, there is underneath the surface an unbelievable antagonism to the very idea of man submitting to the Lord. Do you know why? Because the very idea of submitting to the Lord militates against any idea of self-confidence and self-sufficiency. You see, basically you've got a choice. You can go on in self-confidence, and you can go on in self-sufficiency, or you can live in submission. And that is why there is much ecclesiastical and even evangelical veneer in the Western world today that knows nothing of the liberating power of God cutting loose, because what many of us want is, quote, submission to the Lord coupled to self-sufficiency and self-confidence. And you can't. You choose either or. The only people who stop being antagonistic to the Lord are those who recognize their desperate need, who are broken by their sin, who come in repentance and turn from their self-sufficiency and say, Lord, have mercy upon me. And no self-sufficient and no self-confident man ever asks for mercy. So here are the root causes. Arrogance of leadership, antagonism to the Lord. Thirdly, the third cause, he says, of the situation being in the mess that it is, is a great attraction to liberty. Read on. Verse 3. Those who are antagonistic to the Lord and against his anointed say, let us break their patterns asunder and cast away their cords from us. Now, I love Handel's Messiah. And this comes into it, you remember? And it's a real skippy, jolly little tune. And I want to have a word with Handel when I see him. Because I want to say, Handel, with all due respect, you did a fabulous thing. And I know you did it in about 30 days and never ate or drank or slept, but you blew this bit. Because I don't honestly think that we should sing about breaking God's patterns asunder and cutting his cords and getting rid of his control. I don't think that's a light thing. I think that this should have been done in a minor key with deep sunrise notes, because this is the ultimate of human tragedy. Because you see, people are saying, look, we want liberty. We want to be free. And this relates to much of what we were saying last week. We want to be free of all restrictions and we want to get away from all this repressive religion. And this is exactly what people are telling us to now. You read your psychiatrist, you read your philosophers, you listen to your psychologist, and you will find that in many, many instances they will listen to a person's problems and then they will say, well, I know what your problem is. You were raised in a repressive religious situation. And what we've got to do is get rid of all this and then you can begin to be the man that you're intended to be. Now, okay, I believe in some instances, some of us were brought up under strict religious backgrounds. I was one. In fact, maybe the reason I am the way I am now is that I was probably brought up more strictly than any of you. And I'm a rebel at heart. So I understand the way people talk and the way people think in this area. But I believe that anybody, however smart he may be, who looks at the world's ills and says the problem is God and the problem is the Lord and his restrictions and his repressive nature and his demands upon you, and your only hope is to break his bands and cut his cords, that man is talking rank, dangerous nonsense. And yet we're producing generations now that have known nothing else. We have now produced a generation of young people that is having a wonderful, wonderful time, until you ask them. And the reason they're having a wonderful, wonderful time is this, they're doing exactly what they want to, in many instances. They reject all idea of discipline, they don't want any idea of authority, they want to be absolutely free of all restrictions, and if anybody tries to get in their way, they'll simply pack their bags and go to Afghanistan. And many, many parents are just tearing out what little hair they've got left to say, what on earth can we do with these kids? I would say very little except get them converted. Because you see, the root of the problem is not where they are now, it's where they were when they were kids, when they were not given authority and they were not given discipline, because their parents were led astray by a certain mealy-mouth philosophy that said, let's break away their bands, let's cut away their cords, let's let their inherent goodness come out. And it's been coming out all over the place, and we're mopping up the blood now. Do you want to know the root causes according to Scripture? The root causes of society's ills right at this present time, from something as old as Psalm 2, are as follows. One, arrogance of leadership. Two, antagonism to the Lord. Three, an attraction to liberty that has gone haywire and thinks that liberty is to be found in getting rid of God, where many people have done it, and look where it's landed them, an evaluation of the situation. Secondly, the scene changes and now we have a demonstration of superiority. Verse four, and this is a bit shocking, some people don't like this bit, this is one bit the preachers skip. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. And I personally don't think that this is an amused laugh. I don't think this is God laughing at a joke. I believe God had a sense of humor. He must have had, look what he made. I don't think this is God's sense of humor coming out. I think this is a kind of laugh that somebody who is in absolute control, who knows exactly where he's going, who knows that he will inevitably, ultimately triumph, I think it's a kind of laugh that somebody from that position of strength laughs when he sees puny efforts to overthrow him. And we have a demonstration of superiority here, first of all, because God's will is sovereign. He is in control. This is a message that needs to be shouted loud and clear, not only from pulpits, but from office blocks and from school rooms, that people need to know that they can wriggle and they can cut and they can jump and they can gripe and they can groan and they can do as much as they like, but someone is laughing in heaven and saying, go ahead buddy, go right ahead, there is not one thing you can do. Have you ever had a wayward child, about this in, this long? Given you a hard time, missus? And you've just been about ready to do something you didn't ought to, with that kid? And in the end you just really had to deal with that child as was necessary, and apply some learning to its seat of learning, and then you put the child down, and the child just threw a tantrum. Not in the middle of a supermarket, but just at home, in the privacy of your own home. That kid just threw a tantrum and got so mad, and so frustrated, and so thoroughly infuriated that he lay on his back and kicked his feet and his hands and went purple in the face and went pouncing six inches off the ground. You know, that's when you laugh, because you know you're absolutely in control and that kid can vent its fury, but it isn't going to change one little thing. He that sitteth in the heaven shall laugh. And if you don't like that, if you don't like that idea, check on your whole concept of a sovereign God, because this is at the root of man's existence and the rejection of this is at the root of all man's ills. He's got to laugh at fallibility. I mean you must when you're infallible. He just, he just got to laugh at mortality. You've got to when you're immortal. You see, how can an infallible, immortal God be anything more than amused when fallible, mortal man shakes his fists and God says, you're not there. I think the only valid response that God can give is laugh, a demonstration of superiority. God's will is sovereign. Not only does he laugh at fallibility and mortality, but it also says he derides rebellion. He shall hold them in derision. Listen, he shall hold them in derision. Listen to man, let us break his patterns of sin. Let us cast away their cords from us. And God laughs and says, go ahead, go ahead, see what you can do. And when your rebellion boils up and your hatred boils over and you throw your humanistic tantrums, go right ahead and organize all the rebellion that you like and I must tell you in all good conscience, I totally deride all man's attempts at rebellion. That's what God's saying. And anybody who rejects this concept of God is going to have a hard time ever having any concept of a reason for existence in this universe. God's will is sovereign. Secondly, God's word is sure. Verse five, after his laughed in his heaven and held them in derision, he says, then, then he shall speak. Then he shall speak. And he shall speak unto them in his wrath and he shall vex them in his sore displeasure. I can't get away from the idea here of a righteous father and a healthy father dealing with his children who are throwing tantrums. Perhaps we don't like in our sophistication this picture of humanity, but let me tell you something, if you don't like a picture of humanity of being a child throwing tantrums, you come up with some answer for man's childishness. I begin to see God dealing with his children and God speaking to them now in no uncertain terms and he speaks to them with authority and he speaks to them in judgment and he said, I will vex you in my sore displeasure. You say, boy, what a rotten picture of God this is, killing himself with laughing at man, deriding man because of his rebellion and speaking in authority and punishing man. Well, just a minute, just a minute. If we get back to this concept of God being the father and God being the creator, what kind of a father is it who does not deal in this way with a child who will not listen? It is no father who does not punish when a child should be punished. It is no father who does not discipline when a child should be disciplined. It is no father who does not speak from his sore displeasure and deal with the child that is going away for one very simple reason. If that father fails, that kid can never, never learn the lessons he needs to learn. And if God fails man and ceases to speak with authority, and if God fails man and ceases to speak with judgment, and if God fails man and lets man run wild, there is no hope for man. And I'm so grateful that I not only see an evaluation of the world's situation, but I see a demonstration of God's superiority here. His word is sure, it speaks with authority and it speaks with judgment. And I'm old-fashioned enough to believe this, that this mess that we're in in the 20th century is a mess that can be rectified when people begin to understand that God's will is sovereign and God's word is sure, and they return to both. And I don't know if you've noticed, but there's a great return to the word of God. There's a great response to the word of God. There's a great interest in the word of God. I just heard at lunch yesterday from a Gideon who'd been telling me about distributing Bibles for years without too much apparent interest, except in the last six months. And in the last six months they had been distributing Bibles in the same schools where they'd been doing it for years, but the sole difference now was this, that as soon as they gave their Bibles out, their kids stopped reading textbooks or were getting into their Bibles. And we have a great return to a concept of a God whose will is sovereign, a great return to the concept of a God whose word is sure. But the third thing I want you to notice in this demonstration of superiority is this, that God's way is settled. Verse 6, he says this, Yet have I set my king in my holy hill of Zion. Now there's two little words here you need to underline heavily. I will speak in my wrath, I will speak in my displeasure, I will deal with them in judgment, I will spank them where it hurts, I'm gonna teach them the lesson they need, I'm gonna make them listen, and I'm going to tell them in no uncertain terms that my way is settled and I know where I'm going, because I have set my king in my hill. And here God's rolling his sleeves up now and he says, Why do the nations rage? I'll tell you why they rage. Why do the people fill their minds with vanity? I'll tell them why they fill their minds with vanity, because they've left me out of the reckoning, and I want them to know I'm here, and I'm alive, and I'm in excellent health, and I know where I'm going, and I'm going to do what I'm going to do, and they'd better listen, otherwise they're going to have more confusion and more conflict. And he said, I've got my king. I'm glad God has got his king, and I'm glad God has got his holy hill, and I'm glad God has set his king in his holy hill. Do you want that interpreting or is it obvious? The holy hill is called Zion. And we've got some hymns called, O Zion, haste, thy mission high fulfilling. I believe his holy hill is heaven in heaven and heaven on earth, the church of Jesus Christ. And I believe that his king is the risen, triumphant, living Lord Jesus. And do you know what the world needs to know? The world needs to know in the midst of this desperate situation that there has been a demonstration of superiority, and this demonstration of superiority is to be found in a God who is sovereign, and a word that is sure, and in his way that is settled, and his way is settled in this. He is going to reach the nations through the risen Christ who resides in his holy hill, the church. Now maybe this is where it gets a bit ludicrous. And I would suggest to you that the way we're going about it is pretty ludicrous. But if I've got a situation on my hands as I have, and so have you, and I've got a God in heaven as I have, and so have you, and my God in heaven says he's going to do something about my situation on earth, and my God in heaven says, and I'm going to do it through my king in my hill, I cannot evade it and I cannot avoid it. I am now caught up in a demonstration of God's superiority in the area of human situation. And Christianity isn't going to church to be respectable. Christianity is being caught up in God having set his king in his hill to do something about this mess. Number three, a declaration of sonship. Verses seven through nine. Now here the words change. Someone else is speaking. I will declare the decree. And here's the decree. The Lord said unto me, thou art my son. Who's speaking now? Well it's not the psalmist speaking now from his own experience. He's gone way past that. And if you're not sure, just check on it in Hebrews and Acts and Romans, all over the place, the New Testament. Here now we have the words, the messianic words coming. The Messiah is speaking. And he is going to declare the decree. And his decree is quite simple. My Jehovah said unto me, thou art my son. This day have I begotten thee. That is a reference to resurrection. If you, I haven't time to look into it, I've given you references in your outline. Secondly, this declaration of sonship declared by resurrection is a declaration of sonship that is deserving of rights. Look in verse eight. Ask of me, the father said, Jesus speaking. The father said to Jesus, ask of me and I will give thee the nations. I'll give you your inheritance. I will give you the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Do you know why I'm sold on foreign missions? Do you know why I'm eaten up with concern for a whole world? If you're not sure now, I'll tell you verse eight of Psalm 2. And not on one verse either, but on hundreds of verses throughout the whole of scripture. You see, Christianity isn't respectable church going. Christianity is being caught up in the eternal purposes of God for a lost world. Caught up in the purposes of an eternal Jehovah who speaks to his king in his hill and says, ask of me. And I'll give you the nations. And I'll give you your inheritance. I'll give you the uttermost parts of the earth. How many of us have asked him like old Caleb did, give me my inheritance. How many of us have ever moved into the uttermost parts of the earth with our hearts breaking and burning within us with a conviction that his will is sovereign and his way is sure and his word is and we have said, Oh God, because I am the representative of your king in your hill. I claim from you what you promised. Give me his inheritance. Because you see, as I look at the world situation, I know if we go on the way we're going on, we're just going to get into a bigger mess. So something's got to change somehow. So let's change it back to what he said and begin to believe what we believe that God is in control. That his king is the answer and it's our privilege to get to where they need to hear about him most. Number four, a proclamation of sonship verses 10 through 12. Be not wise now therefore, O ye kings. Be instructed, ye judges of the earth. The proclamation of salvation is simply this, that God has presented his king, a risen king, a living king, a one who can banish conflict and banish confusion and bring sense and peace and order. And this king is settled and every knee will bow to him and every tongue will confess that he is Lord. But right now his people are caught up in the purposes of proclaiming the king and when the king has been proclaimed, the first thing that people have to do is this, exercise their minds. Be wise. Be instructed. Be wise about what? Be wise about your position in the light of his inevitable triumph. And be wise about the future in the light of his invincible purposes. Be wise therefore. Maybe I'm talking to somebody here this morning and you're still trying to cut his cords and you're still trying to break his bands and you're still trying to get him off your back. Be wise therefore in the light of his inevitable triumph. Be wise and instructed in the light of his invincible purposes. You can't win. Where shall I flee from thy presence, said the psalmist later on. The answer is nowhere because he's got longer legs than I've got. So quit running and quit fighting and quit struggling and start surrendering. Exercise your mind. Secondly, exert your will. Verse 11, serve the Lord with fear, reverence and rejoice with trembling. When I have exercised my mind and I've seen the truth of the world situation and the truth of the divine proclamation and I put the two together and I see where I fit in this situation, I exercise my mind and I see where I'm heading and I see the alternative, then I've got to exert my will and I have got to decide whether I will act upon that of which I have become intellectually convinced the Lord is Lord and Christ is King. And what do I have to do when I exert my will? I submit to him with reverence and I say, Lord, you should be my Lord. And then I begin to rejoice, but please, please notice the kind of rejoicing I have. I rejoice with trembling. The person who knows that God sits in the heavens and will ultimately triumph is the person who knows deep in his heart that when the joy of the Lord comes into his heart, he never loses his sense of holy awe. This is a missing note in the evangelical church of America today. Serve the Lord with reverence. Rejoice with awe. When I begin to exercise my mind and exert my will, then he says, now express your feelings. What a strange, lovely verse. Verse 12 is, kiss the son, express your feelings, let people publicly know I love the Lord. Kiss the son, lest he be angry. Not the son, Jehovah. Express your feelings towards the Lord, lest he be angry with you for two reasons. One, because God has an intense dislike of secret discipleship. Come on, come out with it. If you've exercised your mind and you've exerted your will, express your feelings, come right out before this crazy world and say, the King is in his hill and God is in his heaven and his word is sure and his will is sovereign and I'm on his side and I come right out with it and I want you to know exactly how I feel about him. Because the Lord tends to get upset with secret disciples. Do you know why? Because secret disciples are a contradiction in terms. Because discipleship isn't secret and secrecy isn't discipleship. And secondly, express your feelings because of God's unbelievable display of spiritual blessings to us. Let's finish it on a very gentle and a very tender note. After a hard-hitting psalm, blessed are all they who put their trust in him. World in tumult, that's where we started. Blessed are they who put their trust in him. That's where we finish. And somewhere in between the two is every person that you're going to meet this week. How about that? Somewhere in between those two is every person that you're going to meet this week. Let's pray. Serve the Lord with reverence, rejoice in him with trembling, kiss the son. Blessed are they who put their trust in him. Thank you, dear Lord, for a peep into your view of humanity. Thank you for a peep into your heaven. Thank you for a glimpse of your king. And thank you for an understanding of our own need. Dear Lord, in whatever area it is necessary, I ask that every one of us here this morning might exert his mind, exercise his mind, and exert his will, and express his feelings, and come right out into the open, and stand up to be counted. Because society will only be stopped in its downward plunge of confusion and conflict by people who stand right out and say, there's only one answer to this. It's the Lord getting his bands upon me, and it's the Lord drawing me with the cords of love. And it's me being subjective and submissive to the one whose yoke is easy, and whose burden is light. And I serve him. You know our hearts, and you know our response. Now make it make sense, for Christ's sake. Amen.