In this sermon, the speaker discusses the concept of the singer being portrayed in three ways throughout the scriptures. First, the singer is seen as a bond-slave, representing the condition of every individual by nature. The speaker shares a personal story of a man who was in bondage to alcohol and drugs, but through the saving grace of God, he was liberated and transformed. The speaker emphasizes that freedom and deliverance can only be found through the Gospel of Christ, which offers redemption and newness of life. The price for this redemption was the precious blood of Jesus Christ, who died on the cross. The speaker concludes by encouraging those in bondage to seek the mercy of God, as He has the power to set them free.

I want to read with you tonight the second psalm, Psalm 2. Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things? 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 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 sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree. The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for 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 fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son lest he be angry and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. I would like to read that last verse from another translation that helps us to understand it perhaps a little more clearly. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and ye perish from the way, for his wrath will soon be kindled. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. It is important that we should notice the position that is given to the person of our Lord Jesus in the Old Testament scriptures. The Old Testament scriptures they witness to the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. He could say, Search the scriptures, in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me. In resurrection power the Lord Jesus he appeared to his disciples, and you remember he opened their understandings that they might understand the scriptures. And beginning at Moses, and in all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. So we have right to look for the person of Christ in the Old Testament scriptures. The prophets did not speak of themselves, they spoke of the coming one. They spoke of the Christ, the Lord's anointed, the Messiah of Israel and the hope of the nations. So that the Old Testament is filled with the person of our Lord and Savior. We are given to see him in his humiliation. We are given to see him in his death and in his resurrection. His future glory and kingdom is prophetically portrayed in the Old Testament. The Psalms are no exception. We can find Christ in them all. It has been well said that the first and the second of the Psalms, they form index to the whole. And in both these Psalms we have wonderful portraits of Christ Jesus our Lord. In the first Psalm we see him in all his perfection and beauty as a man. The undefiled in the way. The one whose delight was in the word of his gods. The one who fashioned his life according to his father's desire. Who was submissive in all things. The one who verily was as a tree planted by the rivers of water. The one whose life and death has produced such wonderful fruits to the glory of our gods. But when we come to the second Psalm we find it absolutely filled with the person of Christ. In the very center of it we learn God's thoughts concerning his son. Let us think of the three divisions in that Psalm for a moment. It opens with the attitude of the rebellious. Those who refuse the authority of Christ Jesus our Lord. Those who set him at naught. Those who deny him and despise him and who finally become very arrogant in their attitude to this one whom God has enthroned. But when we go to the end of the Psalm another company is brought to view. And we learn that blessed are all they that put their trust in him. So that while the Psalm opens with the company of the rebellious it concludes with the blessed whose trust, whose confidence is in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. But in the very center God gives us his thoughts. And he says despite the attitude of men toward my son, despite the antagonism of the powers of darkness and the forces of hell, he says yet have I set my king upon my holy hill Zion. God says here is my king. The one whom I have anointed. The one whom I have crowned. And this is the one who is worthy to occupy the throne. My king. My friend God is not without a king. God already has set forth the person of our Lord Jesus Christ as the one in whose hand there shall be in a coming day governmental judgments. A judgment that he will exercise over the nations. God has given this assurance to all men in that he has raised him from the dead. The man who has the right to reign is the man who was here for the glory of God. The man who did all things well. Who accomplished the will of God. Who descended into death and triumphed over it. Who has ascended up to the right hand of the father. He is the one to whom authority is given. And we know that God has said to his son sit thou on my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool. So that the rightful heir and the rightful king lives. He's already enthroned in heaven and very very soon we believe he will be acknowledged and he will be enthroned upon earth. He will be here as the prince of the kings of the earth. Supremacy will be his. Every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Now let us note that the sinner is brought before us in a threefold way right throughout the scriptures. First we see him as a bond slave. One who is sold under sin. That of course has been the condition of each one of us by nature. Bond slaves. Man is in bondage in a twofold way. He is enslaved by an evil nature that he has inherited. There is that in man which is inherently corrupt and evil. And so man finds himself bound to an evil nature that is not capable of bringing forth anything to the glory of God. But it's not only true that man is bound to an evil nature. But it's equally true that he's in bondage to evil habits of his own forming for which he himself is responsible. People have often confessed that to me. None of us who have experienced the grace of God dare deny it. We know that we allowed things in our lives in earlier days that were absolutely contrary to the mind of God. And we tried to liberate ourselves from these things but we found it was utterly impossible. These things exercised a tyrannical power in our lives. They had brought us into bondage. We had submitted ourselves to them that we might obtain a measure of pleasure. And so we became the servants of those very sins that we indulged. Sin dominating the life. Have you found that my friends? I think you have. And probably like many others. You would be prepared to confess it to yourself. You wouldn't confess it to your fellows. You wouldn't confess it to me. But you're prepared to confess it to yourself and you say, yes it's true. There are things in my life and if I could rid myself of these things I would. If I could break their power I would do it. But I can't do it. I've struggled against these things. I have struggled in vain. My friend do not think you're alone in this matter. The sinner is before us as a bond slave. Sin and evil dominating his life. He cannot deliver himself from the grasp of evil. He needs to be delivered. And our Lord Jesus Christ is able to do this. There's no one else that can do it. But our Lord is able. One of the things that he came into the world for was to proclaim deliverance to the captive. He can break the fetters that hold me. He can bring them into a liberty. He is the great emancipator. There's nothing else can do it but the Lord himself can do it. I remember a dear man years ago in Yorkshire and he was the terror of the district. And when intoxicated there was no policeman that dared tackle him alone. He was a ferocious and an evil man. Very much so. One night in a gospel tent, the grace of God reached him. He got up in the meeting, left the meeting, ran three miles to his own home, shut himself in and got down upon his knees and sought the mercy of God and God saved him. And what a transformation. Some considerable time after he told me, he said, from that very night when I knelt there in the quiet of my own home and committed my life to God, he said from that very night the bondage was broken. I was liberated. And that which had driven me in the paths of evil, why, he said, I was freed from it. It was a wonderful emancipation. So much so, of course, that neighbours and friends, they marvelled, not for a week but for months and not for months but for years, they marvelled at the transforming power of the gospel of Christ in the life of that man. Just at the close of a campaign that we had in the town hall of Holkirk some three years ago, I always remember that Saturday evening, it was the last night but one, when others were leaving the hall, there was a man remained and he came toward the front to speak to me. And he said, you know, I would like to be saved. And I had the joy that night of pointing him to Christ. And when he had risen from his knees, I said, now you'll tell your wife, won't you? He said, well, that lady with me is not my wife, she's my sister. I've never been married, I'm a bachelor, but my sister is a very, very good woman, different to me altogether. He said, you know, I've been a sinner for years. I said, well, tell your sister that you've trusted Christ. And I followed him down the aisle and he tells his sister the truth. And I said to her, isn't that wonderful? She said, it is. She said, do you think I could be saved? I said, do you feel your need of salvation? Yes, she said. She said, I've been very religious all my life but I've never found Christ yet and I would like to be saved. Oh, she said, I'd like to have the assurance in my heart that all is well. And I pointed her to the Lord that night. They were able to rejoice together. This couple, they were neighbours of Mr. Archie Naismith at Madison. And he said to me a short time afterwards, he said, you know the man whom you led to the Lord, my neighbour? I said, yes. He said, well, he was a drug addict. He said they had done all that they possibly could for him. He had been into hells for six months at a stretch. He was alcoholic and he was addicted to drugs. And there was nothing that could be done for him. And the medical profession said he was beyond human aid. But the wonderful thing was that the Lord left him for a few years. And during those years he gave his testimony to the saving grace of his God. I happened to be in Cardiff with Mr. Naismith and Mr. Naismith told the story there at the Cardiff conference. And the next evening he rang me up. He said, our friend in Madison is with the Lord. I've just received a phone call. He's been killed in a car accident. I'm going home by air tomorrow to conduct the funeral service. He said, isn't it wonderful that God saved him, though late in life, and caused him to know his emancipating power. My friend, there is freedom offered in the gospel. There's nothing but the gospel of Christ that can do this. But the gospel of Christ can do it. And remember, if you're in bondage tonight, then the Lord can liberate you. He can set you free. So we think, first of all, as the sinner as a bond slave. That, of course, associates the thought with redemption. When the Lord redeems, he delivers. He brings people out from beneath their bondage, he sets them free. He brings them out into newness of life, that they might be his own purchased people. But think of the price that was necessary. Had not the Lord died at the cross, redemption would have been an impossibility. The price he paid was nothing less than his own precious blood. Peter writes to a people who have been redeemed, and he reminds them it was not with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. Emancipation comes through the blood of Christ, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. But my friend, sin not only brings a man into bondage, but it corrupts his life. Sin is unclean. There is nothing so defiling as sin. It corrupts a man's mind, so that his thoughts, they're evil continually, they're impure. Once a man's mind is corrupted, his ways are corrupted. He's corrupt in his doings. Sin defiles. Sin is unclean. And my friend, wherever it touches, it defiles and contaminates. And yet tonight, if you've never trusted Christ, sin has accumulated in your life, and sin has corrupted your inner being. You're unclean. Before the eye of God, as unclean as a leper is physically. On several occasions, we've had the privilege of visiting leper colonies, of carrying the gospel to those fearfully afflicted by this terrible disease. And my friend, you need to see it to know how fearful it is, the most terrible thing that I've ever witnessed. I remember one dear woman there in St. Vincent, and she was a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Had she approached you, you would hardly have thought that she was human. Her legs had gone. She used leather pads upon her knees to get along. Her fingers had gone, and yet her nails were growing out of the knuckles. Her face was terribly disfigured. It would be almost impossible to describe what that poor woman looked like. You see, the plague of leprosy was there. It had never been checked. It had gone on with its ravages until her physical frame was destroyed by it. It was a terrible sight. And I thought of the words that Isaiah used as from God himself with regard to the nation of Israel. For the figure that you have in the first chapter of Isaiah, it is that of a leper. And Isaiah describing the spiritual condition of this people, and their moral condition, he said, from the sole of the foot to the head, there's no soundness in it. There's no wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. That's the picture of a leper. And my friend, what a leper is to their fellows, a sinner is in the sight of God. Sin is a most loathsome thing, a most corrupting thing, a fearfully abominable thing. Let us face it tonight, sin. How are we going to get rid of its corruption? How can we be cleansed from it? In Isaiah 1, you get the remedy. God intervenes. For these people who are moral and spiritual lepers, he says, come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool, if ye be willing and obedient. John gives a wonderful word of consolation to all who have trusted Christ. He says, the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Sin. Isn't that very wonderful? To know cleansing from sin's corruption and defilement, and effectual cleansing through the blood of Christ. Precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus. The sinner abounds, faith. The sinner corrupted in his sin, he needs the application of the blood of Christ, that he might be liberated, that he might be cleansed. But here in the opening verse of this psalm, it's not the bond's life. It is not sin in its corruption that's brought to view. It is the enmity of the human heart relative to God. Man is viewed here in his sins as a rebel, as one who is opposed to God and opposed to the claims of Christ. You say you're not going to charge me with rebellion? My friend, God charges you with rebellion if you have not received his Son. Why do you think God caused the decree to go before his Son? Bow the knee. Did he not expect you to bow your knee? Did he not expect you to openly acknowledge the authority of his Son? Indeed he did, and he expects that now. And if you're not prepared to acknowledge the authority of Christ, then you're going in opposition to the throne of God, for God is determined that you shall acknowledge it. My friend, you'll either acknowledge the authority of Christ in this dispensation of grace, or you will acknowledge it in the day of judgment when perforce you bow before his throne. God is going to deal with rebels. He's going to deal with the enemies of his Son. And the time is coming when the Lord himself shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire with his holy angels, taking vengeance upon them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel. The gospel is not the message to trifle with. You've trifled with it. God has brought it to you, and in the gospel he's presented his Son, and he's presented the claims of his Son, that like those in Zechariah's day, you've closed your ears. You're withstanding the testament. My friend, the gospel is not a message to trifle with, it's a message to obey. It's a command from the throne of God. God demands that men shall bow to the authority of his Son. They haven't done it. There are two solemn commands that concern the sinner. The first we have in Acts 17, God now commandeth all men everywhere to repent. Did repentance ever come to your heart? God commands you to repent. Has it been true in your experience? That's the first command. My friend, the second is that you shall acknowledge the authority of his Son, that you shall confess Jesus Christ as Lord. God says every knee shall bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Have your knees bowed? Has your tongue confessed the authority of the Lord Jesus? If not, then remember, friend, from the throne of God you're viewed as a rebel, and God marks you out not only as a bond slave sold under sin, not only as corrupted morally and spiritually in sin's defilement, but God marks you out as a rebel, one who refuses to acknowledge the right of the man on the throne, a rebel. How solemn that is. It's wonderful to know, friend, that those of us who have trusted Christ, the enmity has been removed. We know the blessedness of reconciliation, reconciled to God in the death of his Son. Peace has been established. It was established at the cross. And my friend, if we are dependent upon the blood of Christ for our deliverance and for our cleansing, we are also dependent upon the blood of Christ if we are to enter into peace. He has made peace by the blood of his cross. These things can be yours tonight if repentance comes to your heart. If there's an exercise of faith in the Lord Jesus, these things can be yours. And instead of being numbered with the bond slaves, with the unclean, with the rebellious, you'll be with the blessed. It says blessed are all they that put their trust in him. You know, in the first psalm we have the blessed man. It's in the singular because it refers to Christ. It's a portrait about blessed one who was to come from above, the blessed man. Do you know when he was here there's a sense in which he was alone? There's never been one comparable to him. He's unique. And yet by simple faith in the Lord Jesus Christ we discover this. A great transformation takes place and we become like him. And that is God's purpose ultimately, that all who believe shall be like his Son. Paul says, as we have borne the image of the earthy, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly. John says, we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Paul tells us, you know, that at the coming of the Lord Jesus we who believe will not all be sleeping, the sleep of death. That we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. Again he says, our citizenship is in heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ who shall change this body of humiliation and fashion it like onto his own glorious body. And that's what God has in view for all who trust his Son, Christ likeness. And so if the first psalm presents the person of Christ alone, there in all the perfection of his person, the second psalm concludes by bringing into view those who find their blessedness in him, they trusted him, blessed are all they that put their trust in him. And my friend, our Lord will not be alone in eternity. He's bringing many sons unto glory. And upon them his image shall be impressed with and like the Lord Jesus Christ forever. But notice that last verse, what God says in the centre of the psalm will be fulfilled, his son will be honoured, his son will be glorified, his enemies will be broken, they will lick the dust. But my friend, the last verse contains a very solemn word of warning. It says, kiss the son, lest he be angry and he perish from the world, for his wrath will soon be kindled. What does it mean, kiss the son? What does it mean? Of course it's an expression borrowed from eastern court life, those who would pay homage to the ruling monarch. They do so by bowing before him, placing a kiss upon the foot. My friend, the thought is this, if you're coming into the company of the blessed, you'll need to be prepared to open the confession of knowledge that Jesus Christ is your Lord. You'll need to pay homage at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. You'll need to be Lord of your life. In New Testament language it's expressed in Romans 10 and verse 9. It says, if thou, now that's personal isn't it, if thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, if you're willing to own with your lips Jesus as the Lord of your life and shall believe in thine heart with absolute sincerity, with reality. You see this confession, it affects the entire being. If thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Now that's a guarantee. I want to emphasize that for a moment, I'm quite sure there's someone here tonight. And during these past nights in your heart you've said to yourself, now I would like to be saved. I would like to understand this. I would like to know that I'm the Lord, that my sins are forgiven, that I'm right for heaven. Now how can this knowledge be mine? My friend, listen, God is speaking to you as an individual. Forget everybody else. Forget for a moment the folk that are sitting by you. And God speaks to you and he says, if thou, if thou, if thou shalt confess or own with your mouth, with your lips, the Lord Jesus. Put it another way, if you're willing to own with your mouth that Jesus henceforth is to be the Lord of your life, the one to whom you willingly give yourself without reserve, the one whose authority you're prepared to submit to. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead. Now think of that. Why did Christ die? If you were to ask me that tonight, I would say Christ died for me He died to put away my sins. The load that he was bearing, it was mine. The judgment he experienced, I should have endured it. He took my place in death and shame. Oh yes. Friend, the Lord Jesus did not do that for one person alone. He gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. And if you would gain the benefits of his suffering and death, then recognize that in that suffering and death you have a personal interest. He had you in view when he left heaven. And he pressed on to the cross for your sake, to bear your load, to experience your judgment. And having given satisfaction to God's throne, he not only died and his body was buried, but on the third day he was raised from the dead. And he lives. He lives. You see a dead man could do nothing for you. You know that. I suppose all of us at some time or another, we have been in the presence of death. And we know full well when we look upon a corpse, that the personality is no longer there. We know that. That corpse could do nothing. My friend, if Christ were in death, he could do nothing for you. He went into death because death is the fearful sentence upon sin. And he bore it. But he triumphed over it. He's come out in victory. And he lives. And my friend, this one who lives, who once died for you, he lives to possess that life of yours and to take control the moment you're willing to let him. That's it. Thou shalt confess with thy mouth. You see, you can't do it for someone else. My friend, if I could do it for you tonight, I would. I know the advantages of it. If I could do it for you tonight, I would do it, but I can't. Dear old lady in Blackburn, I suppose she was ninety years of age. She was living with her granddaughter. The granddaughter was a good Christian. But her grandmother had been antagonistic for a long, long time. But that particular afternoon, we had tea together. And we got very near. And I went upstairs to wash my hands. And she said to my wife, is your husband a minister? She said, my husband's a gospel preacher. He tells people the way to heaven, the way to get rid of their sins. Ah, she said, I wish I'd known. I would have had a talk with him. She said, would you? Are you not saved? She said, no, I'm not. Do you want to be saved? Yes, she said. And then she was shown the scriptures. And just as I came down the stairs, I heard this question put to her. If you wanted something from me tonight, what would you do? She said, I'd ask you for it. Well, you want something from the Lord that I can't give you. What have you got to do? And you know, she saw it. And she turned to my wife and she said, but you ask him, will you? Will you ask him for me? No, she said, that won't do. You must ask him for yourself. And you know, she did it. She did it. Ninety years of age, and the assurance came into her heart that she'd passed out of debt into life. A long time afterwards, probably nine months afterwards, we met her granddaughter at a conference in Clitheroe. And I said to her, how is your grandmother? Oh, she said, didn't you know, Mr. Whitmore? I said, no. The Lord took her home three months after you'd been with us. She said, and those three months were wonderful. What a transformation in her life. She'd got salvation and she was rejoicing in it. Now, my friend, what I'm trying to tell you is this. If I could ask for you, I would, but I can't do that. If you're going to get God's salvation, you must ask for yourself. In simple, childlike faith, you must ask for yourself. And if tonight you'll look up to heaven and by faith say, Lord, save me a sinner. Then the Lord says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. It's a guarantee. I tell you, friends, I'd rather rest upon God's word than my feelings. Feelings alter, but God's word never. Those wonderful words you know from Acts 2 and 21 and Romans 10 and 13. I suppose I've quoted them thousands of times without a word of exaggeration. I've been preaching for 43 years and I seldom preach without mentioning them. You see, those were the words that brought assurance to me as a boy when I asked the Lord for salvation. Wonderful words. I was very ill in Burnley some years ago. For several nights I was delirious. You know, sometimes the devil makes an attack on people, on the Lord's people, when they're in physical weakness. He assailed me one night and he said, you're not saved at all. I said, oh yes, I am. You're not. How do you know you're saved? And I tried to quote those words and I couldn't. They went from me altogether. I would get as far as whosoever, whosoever shall call, but I couldn't go any further. And the devil said, no, you're not saved at all. You're not saved at all. Of course my wife thought in my delirium that I was preaching. She tried to comfort me and get me settled down again. But no, I was in an agony of soul until suddenly I remembered where they were to be found. I said, now I can't quote the words but I can tell you where to find them. They're in Romans chapter 10 and verse 13. And the devil left me immediately. He knew they were there and he knew that God honours his word. And my friend, if you take God at his word, then you can have the assurance of salvation. God will honour his word. He'll never let you down. You'll be able to say on the authority of the word of God, I'm saved. I'm saved. But don't put it off, will you? Do it now. That's what this last verse of the psalm means. Kiss the Son. Kiss the Son. Why? Because this period of grace is rapidly ebbing out and soon it will be gone, and with it your last opportunity will have passed you by. Kiss the Son. Lest he be angry and ye perish from the world. For his wrath will soon be kindled. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. My friend, will you do that tonight? Will you put your trust personally in the Lord Jesus? Or if I could save you, I would. I can't. Christ can and will. And if you'll trust him tonight, the assurance, it will be yours. If you're anxious, friend, then make it known. Stay behind. We'll be glad to help you from the word of God. Father and our God, we desire to pray earnestly for those to whom thou art speaking in these meetings. Thy voice has been heard time and time again, and we believe that some have heard thy voice tonight. And thou hast been showing that this is a personal matter, that we must believe for ourselves. We must accept thy gracious provision for ourselves. None can do it for us, but thou art just waiting in grace to save those who will come. We know that if there's a soul in this congregation who tonight from the heart will say, Lord, save me, then that cry will be answered and salvation will be imparted. Grant thy blessing then, we pray thee, that we might tonight know that someone has taken this decisive step. We commend all to thee and ask thy blessing in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.