In this sermon, the speaker addresses the challenges faced by young people in today's world. He emphasizes the importance of not being drawn away from God and His anointing. The sermon is based on Psalm 2, which is divided into four sections, each representing a different speech. The speaker highlights the invitation of Jesus to come to Him for salvation and warns of the consequences of rejecting this invitation. The sermon concludes with a focus on the titles and roles of Jesus, such as the anointed one, God's King, the Son, the judge, and the Savior. The speaker encourages the audience to reflect on how Christ is presented in the Psalms and to have a personal connection with Him.

My brother, Harvey Day, is bringing that lecture to us from the Word of God, by Karl Arnett. Would you please turn again to the Book of Psalms, and this morning we'll take a look at Psalm 2. Psalm 2. I would like, in looking at the first verse of this psalm, to refer to a, what I think is one of the most accurate translations of the Scriptures that I have ever come across. I'm referring to the translation made by Mr. John Nelson Darby, more than a century ago, which I think still is one of the very best. I appreciate the paraphrases that are in existence today, but when it comes to reading accuracy, even though he may not be quite so smooth in reading, the translation may not be quite so smooth, I know that it's very accurate. Mr. Darby translates the first verse of Psalm 2 in this way, Why are the nations into mulchierous agitation? Why are the nations into mulchierous agitation? And the people might in the same thing, the kings of the earth, set themselves in the rulers they counseled the others, against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their plans asunder and cast away their poor strumpets. He that sitteth in the heavens to lie, the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and text them in his sword his pleasure. Yet have I sent my king from my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree the Lord hath sent unto me. How art my son? This day have I begotten thee. After him I shall give to the heathens thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth to thy possession. I shall break them with a rod of iron. I shall cast them to pieces like a potter's vessel. Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings. Be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear. Rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son, lest he be angry and be perished from the ways. When he troth his kingdom but a little, lest it out all they that put their trust in him. I dare say many of you present here this morning, you like many other Christians, you read through the book of the Psalms as a devotional exercise. And this is very good. I myself was brought up to do this as a lad, to read through the book of the Psalms, just purely in my devotional periods. But you know, there's something more than just a devotional exercise in these psalms, because the writer of these psalms, or the writer of most of these psalms, was also a prophet. And this is never more evident than in this second psalm which we have just read. No doubt there was some experience in the life of the psalmist which led him to write a poem like this under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. But he believed that he was also thinking ahead. As a matter of fact, in the fourth chapter of the book of the Acts, we have these very words applied to our Lord Jesus Christ in the time that he was rejected and crucified. Then again we find in the fifth chapter of the Epistle of the Hebrews how this psalm is referred to there with our Lord's elevation to the high priesthood. Of that I would like to speak another morning in more detail. But just to say this this morning, that we must not limit these psalms to some incident or something that took place in the past. Don't let us think of them as simply being ancient documents, but something which is right up to the minute. And that was one reason I had for giving to you the more literal translation of Mr. Garvey, why are the nations in tumultuous agitation? And I'm sure I don't need to labor the point this morning to show you how this fits into the picture of this very day in which we live. If ever the world was in tumultuous agitation, it is right now. We find not only that there are wars going on, but there are rumors of war. And men are continually talking about the possibility of a third world war and they're predicting that if it ever takes place, it will be the end of our civilization. So that even men who don't know anything at all about prophecy, know nothing at all about what the word of God has to say, are beginning to demonstrate the very thing that the psalmist is talking about here. I remember some years ago I was asked to speak to a group of university students in the city of Guatemala, in Central America. All of the ministry was taking place, of course, offered in the Spanish language. I was asked if I would address this group, not to present my Bible openly, but to take some scripture with which I was pretty well acquainted, and just keep my Bible in reserve until later. On that occasion, I took one of the psalms, and quoted it from memory in Spanish, and proceeded to speak on it. And after the meeting, it was my pleasure to hear a number of these students, who were well acquainted with literature, come up and say, you know, I never knew that things written a thousand years before the Christian era could have anything whatever to do with the times in which we live. They were surprised with this. They began to feel that there was something about this book, which we know as the Holy Bible, which they had never yet discovered. There's something about this book that's different. Very recently I've been reading a little book put out by J.B. Phillips, the author or translator of the Phillips Translation of the Scriptures. There are some things in the book which you probably wouldn't agree with, but nevertheless, when Dr. Phillips tells us that this book has the ring of truth, we agree with him. We say there's something about this book that commends itself to us as we read it. It has the ring of truth. And this I believe is evident even to unbelievers as they read this book. How many men have their explanations as to why the nations are into multifacetation. Some of them will argue that it's because of the economic differences, that the haves are against the have-nots, and the have-nots against the haves, and so on. Others again will tell you it's a difference in political beliefs and ideologies, and so on. But not one of them, so far as I'm aware, I'm speaking now purely secular books. There is not one of them that comes very near the answer that we have right here in this psalm this morning. The reason why the nations are into multifacetation is because they don't want any restraint from above. Notice what they're saying here. The kings of the earth and the rulers have taken counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed. And that word anointed should have been spelled with a capital A. That word is the Messiah. That's the Christ. These three words are synonymous in our language. The anointed one, the Messiah, the Christ. They're against him, against the Lord, and against his Messiah. And what do they say? Let us break their fans asunder and cast away their cords from us. They don't want any restraint from above. There may be some distinction between these fans and these cords. The fans may speak of that which restrains. The cords, on the other hand, may speak of that which draws. But we find that men don't want either one of these two things today. They want no restraint from him who sits in the heavens. Neither do they want to be drawn by the cords of life. This, my friends, is the basic cause of all the commercial agitation we see in the world today. And it will never cease. There will never be international peace until this is recognized, and God makes good what we have in this psalm this morning. And just to bring this down to each and every one of us personally, because you know what you and I see in the world, generally around Mississippi, the multiplication of millions of hearts. So that it comes right down to the individual himself. Unless you and I are at peace with God, there'll be a commercial agitation within. And I'm sure we can diagnose it this morning and say, it's because of our opposition to the Lord and to his prophet. I'm sure in this audience this morning there must be some. I never take it for granted that even a group like this, say, of 300 or more people, that every one of you knows the Lord Jesus Christ as a personal savior. I'd like to believe that that is true. But if it isn't true, and it probably isn't, I would like to speak personally to that one present this morning or more, who have never yet had settled peace in their hearts, who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as a personal savior. My dear friend, the reason for that is because you've never been reconciled to God. You know what it means to be reconciled to God? Years ago I heard a definition of reconciliation which I've never forgotten. Reconciliation, or to reconcile, means to make a friend out of an enemy. And that's exactly what God does when he saves your soul and mine, he makes friends out of enemies. Because we were enemies by wicked works. We didn't want to be sinners. I told you last night that I was born and brought up in a Christian home, and I thank God for that. Oh how I praise God even now, for that training which I had in those early years of my life. When God in his marvelous grace, even when I didn't know him, was preserving me from things which wrecked the lives of many of my companions. I remember one fellow who was really a bosom friend of mine, who died at Osteen. Thank God I never had anything like that. I've never been able to sing that hymn which says in the line, all my life was wrecked by sin and strife, and mine wasn't. Even in my unsaved days this was never true. God in his marvelous grace preserving me, so that when it came to the time where I asked for the hand of the lady who became my wife, I could say to her, I'm bringing you as much as I know I'm getting. You know dear friends, that's something that many people can't say today. They're taking liberties with the standards and the word of God. And alas, when they become married, there are no undiscovered joys to expose. Nothing. But thank God for those who still live up to the standards of the word of God, and who've had the training of a Christian home, so that they too, when they invite another to become a life partner, can say as we said, I'm bringing as much as I know I'm getting. And how God blessed that union. We thank him for these things. My dear father before me could bear the same witness. In fact, I believe it was my father's example in his prayers, which led me to think of the value of this very thing. When I spoke to him in the later years of his life, and the way God had blessed him, and his ten children, all of whom confessed the Lord Jesus Christ as a personal savior, I said to him, Dad, what one thing would you say God used to bless your home the way he did? Well, he said there's so many things. But he said your father was the husband of one wife. I knew what he meant. I knew what he meant. That when he asked for the hand of my beloved mother, he could say the same thing to her. I'm speaking along these lines with design this morning, because I've had enough experience with young people in my work as a teacher, down the years, both at the Moody Bible Institute and Wheaton College, for fourteen years. I know what we're facing in days like these. And dear friends, all of it comes back to the first three verses of this psalm. Against the law and against his own. Let us flick their fangs asunder. We don't want this restraint from above. We don't want to be drawn by these cords of love. Now what's God's answer to this? It has been noted by commentators down the years, that they really have four speeches in this psalm. We find them in the four sections of three verses each. We have listened to the speech of these kings and these rulers. Perhaps I ought to add a word about these kings and these rulers. We know so very frequently, trouble is blamed upon those who are down at the bottom. But here the blame is put on those at the top. Upon the kings and the rulers. And I'm inclined to believe that these rulers are some superhuman group, referred to in the New Testament as the Principalities and Powers, who are in league, shall we say, with human leaders in the rejection of the law of Jesus Christ. St. Paul refers to them in his Epistles to the Corinthians when he says, which none of the princes of this world knew. For had they known it, they would not have crucified, with the law of glory, the princes of this world. The very title which our Lord gives to the devil himself, in the Gospel according to John, when it refers to him three times over as the prince of this world. I'm inclined to believe we see this league right here. Yes? Little do men realize, as they look upon the world today and see the agitation, that this is but a reflection of some other agitation which is going on in the world above us, in the Principalities and Powers in Satan's domain, for he's the prince of the power of the air. But come to come to God's response. He that sits in the heavens. Perhaps this could have been translated, he that is enthroned in the heavens. He sits in the place of authority. He sits in the place of supremacy. There he is. He that sits in the heavens shall lie. I remember being puzzled about this as a lad, as I told you last night in my horrible days. We lived next door to a Presbyterian church. We used to attend there, and they sang the Psalms in that church. There were no musical instruments allowed. The only musical instrument that was allowed in the church was a tuning fork. And we had a young dentist who gave us the key, and we'd sing the Psalms. And one day I went to the pastor of the church, Dr. Parker. I said, Dr. Parker, what does it mean when it says he that sits in the heavens shall lie? You know, I couldn't associate this idea with God. I was only a boy about ten years old at the time. He said to me, well, when do you lie, son? Well, should I lie when there's something funny to laugh at? I didn't know any other answer to give to that question. Well, he said, let me give you an answer. I was no boy ten years old, except in the project he would have used these words that he used. But he said that you lie when you're at perfect ease about the situation. Well, I had to think about that a long time before the meaning of it shook in. But that's the fact, isn't it? God is at perfect ease about the situation. He doesn't worry about it. He can't worry. He doesn't wonder how this thing is going to come out. He knows exactly how it's coming out. These things in heaven shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in his origin. Well, what does he say? Does he say, look at them. They're all mixed up down there. All their United Nations and their League of Nations and all these other things. All the world's problems. What did he say? He said, yet have I set my finger upon my holy other side. You nailed him to the cross and said, this is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. I have recognized him as my head. And I have set him upon my holy hill of Zion. While this has not yet been literally fulfilled, for I believe this refers to the actual place on the earth's surface known as the hill of Zion. I'm not inclined to spiritualize this. And I'm not unmindful of the fact that our blessed Lord is at this present time seated at the right hand of the majesty in the heavens. But I believe this scripture has a final fulfillment when our blessed Lord will indeed sit upon his throne in that hill of Zion. But then, how do you explain this, you say? Well, the theologians have an expression for it. They call it the prophetic passage. God speaking of something yet to come as if it were already accomplished. We get a perfect example of that in the 53rd chapter of Isaiah. 700 years before our Lord was crucified, it says he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. Strange language that is. One Jew at least called my attention to it. He said, how could that refer to Jesus of Nazareth since it was written 700 years before he lived? I was only a lad when I had to face that question in a little farmhouse up in Nova Scotia. But, I believe God gave me the answer then. When I looked at that Jew who, by the way, was blind, I said to him, Diamond, do you believe that God knows the end from the beginning? Oh yes, he said, I believe that. So he would know every event that is yet to take place and could speak of it as if it was already accomplished. When he saw where that question was leading, he was a bit hesitant. Because it meant that he would have to admit that when the prophet said, by inspiration, he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, he was speaking of them as yet to come. As if it were already an accomplished fact. And so it is. I have set my king upon my holy hill of fire. This is God's answer. They nailed him to a cross. God says, I set him on my holy hill. This, dear friends, is God's answer to the whole thing. It's the exaltation of our Lord Jesus Christ. And until he is exalted in your heart and mine, we'll never know what real peace is. And now we listen also to the king himself. Beginning at verse seven of our psalm, Notice you have another speech here. And here again, I'm merely repeating what any one of you may have read, even in some of the simplest commentaries on the book of the Psalms. Here is the king himself speaking. He says, I will declare the decree. The Lord has said unto me, Thou art my son. This day have I begotten thee. Now, it's rather remarkable that this verse is never directly connected with the first of our Lord in the New Testament. It is referred to in the 13th chapter of the book of the Acts, but there immediately we read about the Lord's exaltation. God has raised up Jesus. According as it's written in the second psalm, Thou art my son. This day have I begotten thee. But the most extensive use, or at least the, shall I say, the most definite use of it, is found in the fifth chapter of the Epistles of the Hebrews. I'm going to ask you to keep your finger or bookmark in Psalm 2, and turn please to Hebrews 5. Hebrews 5, if you have the same kind of a Bible that I have, it's page 1294. I'm going to read from the beginning of this chapter, Hebrews 5. For every high priest taken from among men is ordained poor man in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sin. And it's just too bad that we have a verse division at this point, because I think we missed something very precious. We think of a priest, especially in Old Testament language, as a man who offers up sacrifices and so on. But notice that verse, the first words of verse 2. Who can have compassion on the ignorant. Oh, that's a peacefully minister's act. Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way. For that he himself also is, of course, is referring to the human priest that he is compassed with in primacy. And by reason hereof he ought as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sin. So no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God as what they are. And now we come to the verse that I want to call particular attention to. So also Christ glorified himself, not himself that he made an high priest, but he that said unto him, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. Notice that here the Holy Spirit of God is using this person, Psalm 2, verse 7, in connection with our Lord's elevation to the high priesthood. Yes, as you say, this day. Well remember it's the eternal God who's speaking, and to him there is only one day. There's only one day. This is God's eternal day. No doubt there was a moment in time when this became specifically true, but God doesn't speak as you and I do about today and tomorrow and tonight. Have I begotten thee. And the word begetting here might refer very well to acknowledging in a certain place of endearment to himself, rather than to his birth as we have already observed. God recognizing you now. This is recognition. You say, well I don't see how often this would really fit. Well, perhaps an illustration will make this clear. I, as I've already told you, I'm the oldest of ten. There were seven boys of us and three girls. My youngest brother, who's also the youngest of the family, was the only one who followed my father in his business as a builder and contractor. While he was serving his apprenticeship with my father, Father's truck had on it, E. Armerding, Contractor and Builder, Sandwood, New Jersey. But after Howard had served his apprenticeship, and Dad recognized him as a real builder, he sent the truck down to the paint shop and it came back, E. Armerding and Son, Contractors and Builders. Now, my brother had been his son for many years, some years. But now he's officially recognized as God. And here is God recognizing the one who men rejected and nailed to a cross. He recognizes him as his son. And that's why the Lord in speaking here in Psalm 2, he doesn't say, I will declare my genealogy, but I will declare the decree. The Lord hath turned to me, Thou art my son. This day have I begotten thee. But if he's the son, he's also the heir. And you notice in verse 8 of our psalm, he's invited to ask, ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thy inheritance and the uttermost part of the earth for thy possession. Strange to say, this verse is frequently claimed in missionary meetings, and you hear people pleading the promise. And so it were made to them. The Lord says, ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thy inheritance and the uttermost part of the earth for thy possession. In the first place, the promise wasn't made to you and me. And secondly, what the Lord does with them, after he gets them to prove that this is not a missionary text, he puts a nice verse that says, Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron. Thou shalt cast them as pieces as a potter's vessel. When you look at it that way, dear friends, you realize that our Lord, in having refrained from asking all these years, it is because in his grace and in his mercy, he's waiting for men to be reconciled to God. Because once he asks, this is what's going to happen. How our Lord could have used these words in replying to the devil in the days of his temptations. Remember how Satan spread all the kingdoms of the world with the glory of them before our blessed Lord in his temptations. He says, for all this will I give thee if thou fall down and worship me. Our Lord could have used this text in replying to him. But if he had, he would have been using something you and I couldn't use. Therefore, the temptation would only have an academic interest for us. Our blessed Lord was taking that temptation of a man. And as a man, he gives the answer when he says, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. That's an answer that you and I can give. But he could have used it. He had a perfect right to use it. And we'll repeat, dear friends, It's a great mercy on his part, for any of you still on stage here this morning, that he hasn't asked yet. Because when he does, he's not only going to take over as the heir of all things, but as the judge. And this is a role which is not very often emphasized in connection with the Lord Jesus. But he himself claims it in the fifth chapter of John's Gospel when he says, God has committed all judgment to him because he is the son of man. Yes. Don't forget it, my friends. These are the days when as a Savior, he spreads out his loving arms and says, Come unto me, all of you that labor on the heavy laden house, if you dread. But listen, if you don't listen to that invitation today, you may have to face him as your judge by and by. But this brings me to the closing verse of the psalm, and I know that very often this is looked upon as a negotiation on the part of the psalmist himself. But I believe in keeping with what we've been saying this morning, that we have the voice of God the Father, God the Son. I like to think that in these closing verses, we have the voice of God the Holy Spirit, even though he's speaking through David, through the psalmist, as his mouthpiece. And what does he say? Be wise, Father of your kings. Be instructed, ye judges of the earth. And notice to me that nothing is said about the rulers that you read about earlier in the psalm. If I'm correct in my belief that those rulers are spiritual beings now infesting the heavenly realm under the domination of Satan himself, I can quite understand why they were omitted here. The words of an old hymn come to mind as I say that. Though angels may with rapture see how mercy flows in Jesus' blood, it is not theirs to prove as we. It claims he purchased that blood. God has no offer of salvation to fallen angels. He does to fallen men. But here they are, and the Holy Spirit is pleasing with them. And the plea is summed up, I believe, in this last verse when he says, which I take it is really, shall I say, an Old Testament way of saying, be reconciled to him. I know that the commentators say that this is an act of homage, and of course it is that. But I'd like to think that there's something deeper than that. This is a tithe of reconciliation. Tithe to Solomon. And what is not manifest in our English Bibles, and you'll excuse an old school teacher for calling attention to it, is that we have here another word for son. Up in verse 7 of the psalm, where it says, Thou art my son, we have the Hebrew word, ben. We should get a name like Benjamin, ben Ahad, and so on. You get the plural of it over the gates of some Jewish cemetery, ben Eberich, the sons of the covenants. But in this last verse, we have another word for son, it's the word far, which you have in such words as chronos, and far juna. And you say, well why the difference? Why didn't the Holy Spirit use the same word in both cases? Well, the grammarians tell us that they did this for euphonies' sake, that is, to make it sound better. Because the next word is rather similar in sound, ben pen. It would be, in the Hebrews, so that they for varieties had far pen. I think there's a deeper reason than that. You know, when they rejected the law of Jesus, what did they say? Not this man, but far Abbas. And far Abbas, by the way, means the sons of the covenant. He was the devil's counterfeit, he was the devil's substitute on that occasion. And now the Holy Spirit is reminding them of that by using the very word which they used when they shared death. Yes? If the simple gospel is, we believe on the law of Jesus Christ, then how shall we say? My dear friends, I know that most of you here this morning have a lot of people who like to think that in going over this beautiful psalm you have seen the array of titles that belong to him. He's the Anointed One, he's God's King, he's the Son, he's the Heir, he's the Judge, he's the Savior. What a wonderful list of titles. You know this is one thing that thrills me reading this psalm, and any other part of the Word of God, and that is to discover how Christ is presented in it. So if you don't get anything else this morning out of this little Bible study, or this hasn't been a sermon, this is a study of this portion of the Word of God, I hope you'll go away with a vision of Christ in your soul and in your heart. Oh, to see no man save Jesus only. Now it's just 10 o'clock, but you know I never like to close a meeting like this without singing. And we're going to turn to please the hymn number 78. Hymn number 78. Oh happy day that fixed my choice on being my Savior, my God. Well may this glowing heart rejoice until it's rapture of all God. Hymn number 78, I don't think you can't hear it.