Proclaiming The Lordship of Christ (Psalm Chapter 2 / Applying God's Word - Part 2)

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. And even if a person escapes God in this life, they're going to meet him in the life to come. And again, the reason why the heathen are raging is not because they're all these people who have accepted Jesus into their heart and then never do anything about it or never say anything about it.

The heathen don't care about that. If that's the case, if your Christian faith is private and you never say anything about it, it doesn't affect the way you live, I mean, honestly, you might as well be one of the heathen because there'd be no visible difference.

The Church’s Public Witness Against the Raging Nations

So what the heathen care about is when we take the word of God and we bring it to bear, and that's what the church of Jesus Christ needs to do. So the heathen don't like when we proclaim the Lordship of Christ.

Do you like it when the Lordship of Christ is proclaimed? Well, where else is it going to be proclaimed? It's proclaimed in the church on Sunday morning. Where else is it going to be proclaimed? It can be proclaimed wherever you go, but obviously unbelievers are not going to be proclaiming it.

So that's our job and we are fighting a spiritual battle and we're working, here's the thing, we are working to actually accomplish something. We want to see, I want to see the kingdom of God expanded.

In the pages of the Old Testament, Israel fought physical battles. Israel and the heathen fought sword to sword. I mean, these were literal physical battles. But now the church, you and I, we are fighting a spiritual battle and there's plenty of those battles to fight.

In Luke 17 verse 20, however, Jesus said that the kingdom of God does not come with observation. What does that mean? Well, if I can put it this way, God's soldiers today are pastors, missionaries, evangelists, Sunday school teachers, deacons.

Anyone who's participating, anyone who's serving God in any capacity, you are a soldier in the Lord's army. So today, God's soldiers, we're not like the Old Testament nation of Israel. I mean, we're not going to march into a town with rifles proclaiming the Lordship of Christ and this town belongs to us now.

That's not the way it works in the New Testament. What do we do? We preach the gospel. We make a difference in people's life, you know, one person at a time. We baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

We proclaim the truth. We sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. We plant churches one by one. This is how the kingdom of God is expanded and we are all to take part in that effort. Really, the only cataclysmic event that's going to happen in our future is the event known as the day of the Lord.

At which point, Christ's kingdom will be a physical kingdom that is going to be established here on the earth. In the meantime, again, we're fighting spiritual battles because this is a spiritual kingdom.

And as long as we apply God's word and God's rule is upheld by his servants, you and I, we can make a difference. I hope you want to make a difference. But in order to make a difference, you can't just believe the Bible's true.

You have to apply the teachings of scripture. So let's go back to Psalm 2 and look at it. So here in Psalms, when the heathens say, let us break their bands asunder. I view that as they're breaking the bands of the father and the son.

Because the son of God is mentioned here. That wasn't totally revealed in the Old Testament. But they want to break free from God's rule. So when the heathens say, let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us.

What's God's response? God is in heaven and he's shaking. Oh, no, the heathen are coming out. What are we going to do? What's God's response? It's a joke. He laughs at these people. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh and the Lord shall have them in derision.

That's a really strong term. Basically, it means when the Lord sees this, he mocks them. He derides them. He ridicules them. Verse 5. That doesn't mean that we should. It just means that God is doing that.

Verse 5. Then he shall speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure. That's an understatement. Yet I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. Who's that a reference to? Christ.

Right. But again, David's the author. David was indeed Israel's king and David did rule from Zion. Zion is a reference to the city of Jerusalem. So, you can see that there's an application, a contemporary application where it's, in a sense, speaking of David and the enemies that were, the heathen that were rising up against him.

But ultimately, this psalm is messianic. David is writing in the Spirit under inspiration of the Holy Ghost. So, these words point ahead to God's only true son, his only begotten son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And we see that in verse 7. I will declare the decree. The Lord hath said unto me, thou art my son. This day I have begotten thee. And, of course, we know from the New Testament that speaks of Christ.

And he says, ask of me. So, this is God the Father saying to the Son, ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. You realize what's being said here?

God the Father is saying to Jesus Christ, just ask me and I will give you everything. All you have to do is ask and I will give you the nations. I will give you the whole world. It will be yours. Now, the neat thing about that for us is that Jesus says, the meek shall inherit the earth.

So, if we ask, he shall give it to us as well. Because the scripture says that Christians will rule and reign with Christ. But, ultimately, this is what the heathen need to get through their head. And we're trying to do that.

The world belongs to Jesus Christ. I realize you don't like that. And there might be an unbeliever listening on the radio later, or listening on the internet. There might even be an unbeliever sitting in this congregation.

And you might not like it. But I'm here and I'm telling you this in the spirit of love and charity. This world belongs to Jesus Christ. And you can get angry. You can moan about it. But it doesn't change the fact.

What you need to do is repent and place your faith in Christ. And then you can share in it with him. But God the Father has made a decree that this world belongs to his only begotten son. So, now it's just a matter, in the age we live in, it's just a matter of the Lord's invisible kingdom becoming visible.

And this is done as we wait for the Lord's return. It is done primarily through preaching the gospel. We're declaring something that's true. It's already true. It just hasn't come to fruition yet. All right.

Revelation 11 verse 15. Here's another verse you can make a note of. Revelation 11 verse 15 says, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. And he shall reign forever and ever.

All right. Let's turn to Philippians chapter 2. Philippians 2. So, in preaching the gospel, the message for the heathen is to repent and believe the gospel. The word of God teaches us. You say, well, how do they do that?

Or somebody says, how do I do that? Well, the word of God teaches that because of our sin, we are separated from God. Of course, this is the bad news. It has been said that before you can get someone saved, you have to get them lost.

Of course, the reality is they're already lost. You just have to make them realize it. Only the Holy Spirit can do that, but it's in cooperation with the preaching. Romans 3 .23. You know what it says.

For all have sinned and have come short of the glory of God. And that penalty for sin is death. Romans 6 .23. For the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

But praise God that penalty for sin was paid on the cross of Jesus Christ. Romans 5 .8 says that God demonstrates his own love toward us. And that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Scripture teaches that if we would repent and trust in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we will be saved from sin and its penalty.

But it has to be more than just a mental ascent in your head. You can't just believe the thought in your head. It has to be real to you. And if it's real, it comes out in what you do. Romans 10 .9 -11.

To the one who has placed their faith. If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, one believes unto righteousness.

And with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture says, whoever believes on him will not be put to shame. But there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. For the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon him.

It doesn't matter where a person lives, in the United States, in Africa, in Asia, and your God is God of the whole world. This applies to everybody. So if a person places their faith in Jesus, the Great Commission says the next step is to be baptized.

This is done through the ministry of a local church. And then we are to spend the rest of our lives learning in the local church, growing and serving God in whatever way he has gifted you. But where does the disconnect come in?

At some point, there's a disconnect. You can read that and say, I believe it all. But sometimes there's the disconnect where the word of God, yeah, it's true, but it's not always applied. Here's the problem.

It's in our nature. We want to do what we want to do, right? You can hear all of this, and you know it's right, and you know it's true, and you believe it's true, but even the believer has that sinful flesh, and we don't like being told what to do.

And we want to be the Lord of our own lives. But the Christian who is submitting to the will of God, he says, like Jesus said, not my will be done, but thine. That's why I get up here every Sunday, preaching to myself first before I preach to you, but that all of us would get to that place where daily we say not our will, Lord, but thine.

You know, Jesus didn't have his own agenda. Did you know that? Jesus didn't come to the earth to do what he wanted to do. Jesus came to the earth to do what the Father wanted him to do. So Jesus, again, leads by example.

Look at Philippians 2, verse 5. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.

And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. So we are supposed to obey God. Why? Because Jesus obeyed God. Because Christ obeyed, and we are Christians.

And because of that, wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Now the heathen don't like that, but that's the truth. One day, the heathen, the people who hate Jesus Christ, who blaspheme the name of Jesus Christ, you know that sometimes unbelievers talk about Jesus more than we do, except they use his name as a curse word.

Even they will bow the knee and confess that he is Lord. Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Moores Cornet Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, moorescornetchurch .com.

And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.