The Lord and His Anointed: Part 1

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The Lord and His Anointed: Part 2

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Our great God, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, God who at sundry times and divers manners spake and time passed unto our fathers by the prophets.
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Lord, you have in these last days, last days, spoken unto us by your
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Son, whom you have appointed heir of all things, by whom you also made the worlds.
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Father, we thank you. Lord, help us to look unto Jesus. The author and the finisher of our faith.
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Oh, that we would see Jesus. And that's our prayer today, Father. Jesus Christ and him crucified.
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May we go away here saying we it's been good, not because we've heard a sermon.
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But father, that we have met with you and your presence. We ask these things, oh,
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Lord, be with your people, Lord, throughout this world. Meet with you with them,
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Lord, and encourage them in the faith. We pray, oh, God, may your blessed Holy Spirit comfort them as they fear you and as they walk and rejoicing in the
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Holy Ghost. We ask these things in Jesus name. Amen and amen. I'd like to speak to you this morning about the
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Lord and his anointed, the Lord and his anointed. With all that is happening, of course, it's already mentioned, especially in Europe, at this very moment, as we are meeting together in this time of history with the invasion of Ukraine by the
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Russian militants. And they're plowing their way through to the capital. Who knows what's going to happen?
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There's been the threat by Putin, Putin of nuclear weapons.
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There's a lot of high alertness right now with the military. America is weak at the moment.
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I'm a patriotic American, believe me. But if you look around us, we are weak.
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A lot of people may ask, is God blessing this nation? You'd like to say yes, but if you look around us again, the evidence is very true that the judgment of God is upon us.
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Now, this may sound like a prophet of gloom, but that's reality, isn't it? All you have to do is turn to Romans 1.
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Look at what's happening to this nation. And it breaks my heart. I weep over it.
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We're not the nation what we used to be. There was a time people feared God. And when war broke out, and you look back in time and history, especially
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World War II, people, I mean, flocked to the churches.
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Even the unbelievers to seek God's face. As I was coming to church this morning,
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I saw one person after another with boats. And I was thinking, that's the spirit of America.
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Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die. God help us.
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God's spirit. And folks, I'm telling you, this is not my word. You read it in Scripture. I believe it's
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Psalm 9, I want to say, but it speaks about the nations. The nations that forget
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God shall be turned into hell. That's God's word. Ask yourself, has this nation forgotten
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God? Has this nation forgotten God? Yes.
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Well, as things are breaking out at the moment, so we're going to take a little break for a couple of weeks.
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From our study in the epistle of 1 Peter. And I'm led to go to this wonderful Psalm.
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We're going to be looking at Psalm 2. And what the Lord has to say to us, during this time in which we face, that is so critical.
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There is an urgency, there's a critical, it's a red alert that we need to be sober.
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And all that's been taking place in our country, in the United States abroad, within the past few years. Not only what's happening here recently with Europe, but in the several years of the panic.
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My heart, my mind has been magnetically drawn to this wonderful Psalm for great comfort.
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And I'd like to encourage you this morning in the Lord. Now, let me mention something that, on a more personal note, before we look into the text.
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On my milk route, just the other day, I deliver to this particular stop.
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I won't name it, but they take quite a bit of milk. As I was delivering milk,
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I had an interesting conversation with this lady. Who was checking me in at the time, and I wanted more time with her, of course.
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But I'm timed, each time I stop. And I have just a small window to say something.
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Usually I don't speak out first, but she spoke first this time. And I said, what a glorious opportunity.
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This particular lady started speaking and sharing her heart. And as she was speaking, she was speaking of all that's been going on with the pandemic and so forth.
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And I won't go into details. She didn't say a whole lot about that. And she says, now we're going into a tragic war in Europe.
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And who knows what's going to happen? This could be the beginning of World War III. And she says to me in a state of panic, and you could tell she's fearful.
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And she was saying, you know, speaking about the young people that work there at this particular restaurant.
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She said, you know, this generation has no idea of all that has taken place in the world. Speaking of the younger generation, she said, they're on their iPhones all the time.
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And they're in their own world. And I had to agree with her. She's very realistic.
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And then she started really sharing a lot more. And she opened up to me. And she was sharing.
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She said, well, just the other night, I couldn't go to sleep. I was in a state of panic of all that was happening.
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And she actually said, last night, I could not sleep at all. I was literally panicking and alarmed of all that is going on in this nation and what's going on in the world.
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She said, I don't know how to handle it and what to do. And then
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I was hearing this. I could not remain silent. Of course, as a Christian, I'm a milkman. I usually don't start conversations like this unless someone starts the conversation.
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The door of God opened up the door of opportunity to give the gospel. So I just said, you know, miss,
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I don't even know her name. I see her all the time. But you know, you get a chance to get to know people.
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But sometimes you're in such a hurry. And, you know, milkman. And, you know, she's the lady or the guy that the managers that check you in.
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But I could not remain silent. I could not remain silent because that would be a sin for me to remain silent.
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I wish I was really on my own personal time at the moment. I could really set her aside.
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But she had a job and a duty to do as well. But there's a window of opportunity. You have to redeem the time, don't you?
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Because the days are evil and take the opportunity. But anyway, as she was telling me about all this,
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I thought what a wonderful, glorious opportunity to give her the gospel in a nutshell. And I told her, you know,
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God and God's providence. I graciously shared with her.
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I said, we need to rely on the great comfort and the sovereignty of God in times like this.
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And rest your head on the pillow of God's sovereignty. And she looked at me like, what is that?
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She didn't say it, but I could tell on her face. She didn't know what I was talking about. And I said, you know, it's a great comfort to know that God is in control of everything that's taking place.
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As R .C. Sproul said, there's not one maverick molecule in the face of this planet and this whole entire universe that's out of control, out of God's eyes.
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God controls everything. He upholds everything by the word of His power. And I spoke to her and I said, you know, miss,
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God is in control. No matter how bad things get and how terrible it is.
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She replied and said, you know, that may be good for you, but that's not good for me. I said, oh, hold on.
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It's good for you, too. Now, I was doing my best to be respectful and not forceful and be gracious and patient.
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But I could tell she was a lost soul. And then I thought, you know, and I brought up, you know,
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I believe in the Bible from cover to cover. Man's fallen in a terrible state of depravity.
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I said, but you know, if you go all the way, that speaks in Genesis. And you go to Revelation, we know how the story ends.
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We know what the future says. We know who wins. Jesus wins. And she looked at me and she said that I didn't think that...
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She said some question about Revelation being even questionable as a... But she said, who wrote that book?
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And I said, the Apostle John, one of the apostles. Apostle wrote it. He walked and talked with the
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Lord. He saw the Lord and he saw the resurrection of Christ. And God revealed all this saying he didn't understand it.
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In a vision, in the Spirit of the Spirit, on the Lord's day, in the Spirit of God. But we know is in the
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Revelation in chapter 19, Christ. And I spoke to her about this. I said, Jesus Christ comes back as King of kings and Lord of lords.
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But he's not coming back to die on a cross. He's coming back in all power and great glory.
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And he's going to win. And by the way, he's going to speak by the word of his power. And he's going to waste nations.
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Wow, she looked at me like, I got a problem with that. I said, what do you mean?
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She said, I've got a problem with a God that is love. That's going to come back and slaughter and kill.
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And I thought to myself, and Brother Keith reminded me this morning, as R .C. Sproul mentioned, we have no concept of who
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God is and who we are in our sin. We are dust. And who? We have defied the living
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God. And I almost wanted to say, yeah, what's wrong with you people? What's wrong?
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But this is a lost, blinded soul. R .C. was speaking about people asking questions like, why was
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God's punishment too severe? Oh my goodness. But this lady, here she is lost.
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And she said, I got a problem with a God that loves. That's going to come and kill?
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And I said, may I tell you? I said, that is the problem with the state of the church.
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I brought the church in. And because she said, well, I don't go to church no more. I gave that up a long time ago. I said, well, I'm bringing the church to you.
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She said, no, thank you. I said, well, I'm going to bring it to you anyway. Because you opened up this door of opportunity.
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But I want to tell you graciously, I said, the problem with the church is we don't know what the whole counsel of God is.
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People is pick and choose. They pick and choose what they want to hear from God's word.
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God's promises are good, yes. God's goodness, oh my goodness. It leads to repentance, yes. But do we really know the goodness of God?
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But it's a far cry to hear anything today about God's wrath and God's justice.
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We don't hear this no more. We don't hear anything of the holiness of God. Back in the dark ages, the time when the reformers and the reformation took place, it was a time of darkness.
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And they heard too much of the holiness of God in a sense. The pendulum swing was way over here.
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And it was almost like people had a dread of God. And they didn't understand the goodness of God's love and his infinite love.
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And that was a time. But now the pendulum has swung over this direction.
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And now we don't even hear, we hear too much of the love of God. Kind of in a Mr. Rogers type of neighborhood.
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Weak Jesus. But not the infinite holy love that is brought about in Scripture.
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The horribleness of our sin that God came in flesh in the second person of the
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Godhead. And he took upon himself and became sin. Oh beloved, what has happened?
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What has happened? There's such a decline. A great tragedy that has taken place.
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And just about everywhere you go, people don't have any concept of the justice of God, do they?
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But it's all in Scripture of the righteousness and the justice of God. It's all through the
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Scriptures. Now, I want us to look to Psalm 2.
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Turn with me there. And this wonderful chapter does not give a title.
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But speaking of justice and God's wrath. This is a book that brings about much.
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It says much about. And we're not going to be able to get this whole chapter in today. There's 12 verses.
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We're going to look at six verses. I'll break this up into two parts. But this psalm has no title.
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Nor does it tell of its author. But we do know that if you read in Acts chapter 4,
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Luke. That recorded Acts gives us a recording.
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And he wrote this down from the early apostolic church. That as they were praying, the church applied its language to godless.
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In their generation, in the early church, in the New Testament. The godless wicked rulers of their day.
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So you can actually apply Psalm 2 to every generation in a sense. But Acts chapter 4.
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Let me read it to you. Verse 24 through 26. And while they were praying, by the way. They were praying.
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Verse 24 says. And when they heard that they lifted up their voice to God in prayer.
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With one accord and said, Lord, thou art God. Thou art God which has made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them.
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And here they begin to quote the word of God in prayer. So can you quote God's word in prayer?
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Absolutely. It's biblical. And then he says this. By the mouth of thy servant
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David hath said. Now notice what they said. Thy servant David.
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So they are telling us. Psalm 2. Why did the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things?
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They are quoting this. The kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together.
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Against the Lord and against his Christ. The anointed.
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His Christ. So we by this verse in the book of Acts. Now we know from that.
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It gives to us the Psalm's author. So we know it's David. Thy servant
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David. Who by the mouth of thy servant David. And if you look at Psalm 1. It begins with a blessed.
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And Psalm 2 ends with a blessed. Are they that put their trust in him.
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So it's a possibility that Psalm 1 and 2 is kind of intertwined together.
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That's something to look into. But now as we look into this.
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We review it as I was reviewing this Psalm as a whole. We find that David is declaring by the
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Holy Spirit. Banned furious yet futile hostility toward God. It's always toward God isn't it?
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If you see it toward man it's always toward God first. There are four stanzas of three verses each from the
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Psalm. I'll give credits to Herbert Lockyer. A great Scottish preacher in the past of this outline.
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I wished I could come up with an outline like this. But I'm borrowing it from Herbert Lockyer okay.
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First of all we will see in the first three verses.
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Verse 1 through 3 we see rage and rebellion. Rage and rebellion. Second we see derision and decision.
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Derision and decision. That is in verse 4 to 6. And then third we see in verses 7 to 9.
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Jesus and judgment. Jesus and judgment. And fourth and final we see the instruction and invitation.
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In verse 10 through 12. Instruction and invitation. We will only look at the first two points today.
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Rage and rebellion and derision and decision. So this Psalm is incredibly loaded with majesty and dignity.
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God is enthroned. And you see that He's enthroned. And He's on the throne in quite majestic dignity.
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He sits in the heavens. And He rules. Heaven is
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His throne. Earth is His footstool. Scripture says. God is not disturbed.
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God's not worrying. And God's not panicking. Over all that's taken place from man's rebellion.
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C .H. Spurgeon says this in the introduction of this from the treasury of David. And I'll be having a few quotes from him today.
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But I think it's very rich. He says. This Psalm describes the people's agitation against the
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Lord's anointed. God's determined purpose to exalt His Son. And the Son's ultimate reign.
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He said. Read it with the eye of faith. Watch the final triumph of our Lord Jesus Christ over all
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His enemies. End quote. So let's look at first. The rage and rebellion.
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The rage and rebellion. Verse 1 through 3. And we'll go through one verse at a time. We see the kings of the earth here against the king of heaven.
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The kings of the earth against the king of heaven. And verse 1.
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The Psalm begins with a question. The question sets the tone for the whole chapter.
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Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing?
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Why do the heathen or the Gentiles rage the nations? Some translation says the people imagine a vain thing.
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Why do they rage? Why do the people imagine a vain thing? It's a tremendous question, isn't it?
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A lot of people cannot answer that. But God's people can answer this. Because the Word of God tells us plainly of man's depravity, doesn't it?
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The Psalm plunges. Actually, it's almost like David by the Holy Ghost plunges right straight into the theme of this chapter.
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And the initial theme. And why the why sets the tone of its approach.
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And that is one of the astonishment of the senseless rejection and rebellion of man against God.
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It's senseless. The rebellion. Rebellion is the sin of witchcraft,
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Scripture tells us, right? It's satanic. It originates with Satan.
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Because it's rebellion and disobedience against God. The nations, the
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Gentiles, they rage. They uproar. That word rage is interesting, isn't it?
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Rage can also mean tumult. They assemble in tumult.
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And the people imagine, the word imagine can also mean meditate.
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Meditate. They meditate. They think on a vain thing.
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Genesis chapter 11 came to my mind when I was studying this about this word.
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Imagine a vain thing. Go to Genesis chapter 11. And we see the story of the building of the
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Tower of Babel. The Tower of Babel. And we see this, that this is a serious rebellion.
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Really, it's a serious rebellion against God. That's what it is. It's a rebellion against God and the
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God of heaven. It's more than just building a tower. It's the attitude behind building the tower.
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It was idolatry. It was rebellion. It was against the Lord. And keep in mind, at this time,
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Nimrod was a one world leader. There was a one language. One language. One world. Isn't this where the people of the world wants to go?
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You see, I was thinking of this. Even old sci -fi pictures. I've seen The Day the
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Earth Stood Still. It's a classic sci -fi picture considerably. And actually, it's about all nations of the world reuniting together.
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And today, we have the United Nations, right? You see, a one world leader rises up.
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There's nothing new under the sun. But let's see what happens in this time period. Let me read the text to you in chapter 11, verse 1 through 6.
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And the whole earth was one language. One language. And of one speech.
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And it came to pass as they journeyed from the east that they found a plain in the land of Shinar. And they dwelt there.
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And they said to one another, Go to, let us make brick and burn them thoroughly.
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That they had brick for stone and slime had day for mortar. And they said,
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Go to, let us build us a city and a tower. You know, city builders. It's going to make them great, right?
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It's man's arrogance here. It's against the Lord, okay? And they said,
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Whose top may reach unto heaven. It almost sounds like they want to be
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God. But there's, that's really, they're exalting themselves up against the most high
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God abroad. And then it says,
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Whose top may reach unto heaven and let us make a, notice it's kind of a let us, let us, like a symbol together.
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Let us make a name, lest we be scattered abroad the face of the whole earth.
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In other words, make a name for themselves. Forget about the name of God. They forgot
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God. But notice the next verse. And the
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Lord came down. Now see, He's in the heavens and He's on His throne. But in a metaphorical way, it says,
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He already knows what's going on. But it kind of tells us that He, like He comes down, like the eyes of the
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Lord roam to and fro about the whole earth. But He came down to see the city and the tower which the children of men built.
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And the Lord said, now we know what God says. Behold, the people is one and they have all one language.
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And this they began to do and now nothing will be restrained for them which they have imagined to do.
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Notice that word imagined. Same Hebrew word there in Psalm 2.
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Imagine meaning to plan. They planned this. They, in a bad sense, they considered it.
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They devised it. They plotted it. They plot a vain thing. They, the purpose, they were thinking evil.
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Imagine a vain thing. Human rebellion. Reminds me of Genesis 6, 5, before God destroyed the whole earth with a flood.
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And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination.
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Think of this. And look about us today. Every imagination of the thoughts of His heart.
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His heart. You know, the problem we have in the world, in America and globally, it's not a political problem.
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It's a heart problem. And what did He say? The thoughts of His heart was only what?
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Evil continually. It was all the time. And here this refers to the whole imagination, the whole person.
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The depravity. The Hebrew word signifies not only the imagination, but also the purposes,
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His desires, His mind, His desires, His very intent is evil continually.
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Do we see this today? And any wonder that violence is spreading like cancer?
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It's because of the evil in people and their hearts continually. And that's why the gospel is the only hope that we have for a depraved nation.
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Yes, we should do everything we can politically. And Brother Joe knows what I'm talking about. But he knows this as well.
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He's the person and you got to be the person to make a difference. For the Lord's sake.
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Jesus said, you're the salt of the earth. You're the light of the world. But the problem is man's heart.
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This kind of rebellion, rage is the evil before the Lord, against the Lord. In Psalm 2.
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Also to note this, in Genesis 11, that the building of the tower, Josephus, the
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Jewish historian said this, he places Babel in the days of Nimrod, which is a one world leader at that time period.
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It's interesting that it seems like the leaders, even in our nation and even other nations, they desire this one nation thing, this
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United Nations. Babel was a pointed rejection of God's instruction actually in Genesis 9 .1
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to replenish the earth. They were in rebellion against God's command. So they wanted to make a name for themselves.
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They gathered together against the Lord. And speaking of the tower to reach heaven,
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I'm just going to briefly mention this, but you could go to the end in Revelation, in Babylon, the great, the whore in Revelation is brought down and Jesus judges her.
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So we know where that's going, right? Little man doesn't win with his towers and making a name for himself.
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Even though they come together and counsel together against the Lord, Jesus comes back and strikes them down.
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But that's another road and that's another sermon, right? But the Gentiles, the heathen that was raging, imagine a vain thing.
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I couldn't help but think also of 2 Corinthians 4, 4 of the question that David gives, why, why do the heathens rage?
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Here's another reason that the heathens rage. The apostle Paul said it under the
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Holy Spirit, in whom the God of this world, the God of this world which is Satan hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, least the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is in the image of God should shine unto them.
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Isn't that the problem? We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against what?
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Notice the word against. I want you to notice how many times in Ephesians 6, 12, Paul says, for we wrestle not, that's in prayer.
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We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
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Five times the Holy Spirit has allowed that word against, against, against, against, against.
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Paul tells us, well, if you go back to Psalm 2, the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the
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Lord and against His anointed. Nations rage, roaring like the sea, right?
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Almost gives a picture like a sea, the ocean, and tossed to and fro, restless waves like the ocean and the storm.
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It reminds me of Psalm 46, 6. The heathen raged, the heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved.
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He uttered His voice and the earth melted.
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Keep in mind that all this commotion of rage and rebellion is not only caused by the people, but by their leaders, wicked leaders.
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Folks, John Calvin said this, he said, when God gives us wicked leaders, that's a judgment. And the most horrendous judgment is the hardness of men's hearts.
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A Puritan said that. And they knew the Bible well, believe me. And all you got to do is read the Bible and you see this.
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But there's hope, there's hope. The gospel is the only hope we have. The kings of the earth set themselves, rebellion, they set themselves.
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Notice that, that is a premeditated purpose and a desire. They plot rebellion, outright rebellion against, just not
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God's people, against the Lord. That's the reason they do it. Spurgeon says this, they oppose
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God with a determined malice. This is not a temporary rage, but a deep -seated hate.
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They set themselves to withstand the Prince of Peace, end quote. So this passage can refer to any human, of any human depravity, right?
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That any human, human depraved leader. And this passage can refer to, to keep in mind also, let me say this, in context, though it is literal, it is also allegorical.
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And what I mean by that is, David is speaking of, by the Holy Spirit of himself in that present situation.
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But it's allegorical of King Jesus. Because thus, it is a, it's an imprecatory psalm.
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It's a psalm that's messianic. And we see that Christ is in it. Christ.
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The rulers take counsel against the Lord and against His anointed. Now, I kind of wrestled with this.
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I used to think that this whole psalm was a, speaking of a prophecy of the second advent of Jesus Christ.
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But also, if you look at it, the first half of it can speak of the first advent of Christ.
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And let me show you, from Scripture, what I mean. In Matthew, Matthew chapter 12, verse 14, it says this.
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Then the Pharisees, that, this was the religious leaders of Jesus' day, of course. We know what kind of people the
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Pharisees were. They went out and they held a counsel against Him, against Jesus.
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This is Scripture. And how that they might destroy Him. They wanted to destroy
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Him. And by the way, in context, if you read Matthew chapter 12, this is right after Jesus did wonderful, marvelous miracles.
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You think the Pharisees cared about that? They didn't care. Because they saw that the kingdom of God has come.
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And God, through the Holy Spirit, was working greatly through Jesus. The king was here.
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And the kingdom, Jesus was basically saying, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.
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He's the king. That was His proclamation. And miracles followed Him. To make men whole.
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Pharisees didn't care about that. They wanted to destroy Him. Matthew 26, 3 and 4 says this. Then assembled together the chief priests and the scribes and the elders of the people unto the palace of the high priest, who is called
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Caiaphas, and consulted that they might take Jesus by subtlety and kill
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Him. You see that. Remember the word, imagine, the plot.
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They plotted a vain thing against who? Against the Lord, against the anointed.
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Against the Lord and His anointed, Christ. So the kings of the earth set themselves, the rulers took counsel together against God and against the anointed
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One, Jesus Christ. Like Pharaoh of old, they cry out, come let us deal shrewdly with them.
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Spurgeon says, if only we were half as careful to serve
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God as wisely as His enemies are to attack His kingdom so craftily.
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Sinners have their wits about them. Yet saints are dull. Saints are dull.
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Sadly. Verse 3 says, they say this, let us break their bands asunder.
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Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us. Notice the two words here, let us, let us, again.
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Almost the same words as the Talmud or Bible. Same two words that we read again there.
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In essence, rebelling against the Lord. They went apostate to worship an idol at Babel.
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And here we see blind, it's literally a blind reaction to God's easy yoke of love bonds.
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God is so gracious. He's got bonds of love. His yoke is easy, right?
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Hosea 11 .4a says, I drew them with cords of a man with bonds of love.
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And then the wicked people of the earth looks at it as yoke bonds.
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In Jeremiah 5 .5 it says, I will get me unto the great men and will speak unto them for they have not known the way of the
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Lord and the judgment of their God. But these have all together broken the yoke and burst the bonds.
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You see that they are against the Lord. And they're fighting up against the greatest one, the one that loves them the most.
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So sad, isn't it? That they are that blind. But I love the questions that Spurgeon gives on this text.
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Questions like this. Kings, oh kings, do you think you're
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Samson? Are the bands of omnipotence like fresh bow strings not yet dried?
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Do you dream that you will snap God's mandates to pieces and destroy the decrees of the most high as if they were threads?
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Do you say, let us cast away the cords from us? Yes, rulers have said this and there are still rebels on the thrones.
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Let me pause there for a second. Amen. Don't we still see the rebels even in leadership?
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On their little thrones trying to revolt against the Lord. And then he says this.
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The revolt against God, however mad the resolution, has continued since creation.
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The glorious reign of Jesus Christ in the latter day will not be consummated until a terrible struggle has shaken the nations.
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Then he quotes Malachi 3 .2. Who can endure the day of His coming?
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And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and like a laundry soap.
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And he goes on to say the terrible conflicts of the last days will illustrate both the world's love of sin and Jehovah's power to give the kingdom to His only begotten
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Son. On a graceless neck, Spurgeon says, Christ's yoke is intolerable.
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But to the saved sinner, His yoke is easy and His burden is light.
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Judge yourself. Judge yourself, he says. Do you love that yoke or do you want to throw it away?
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Well, next, the second point is we see derision and decision. Derision and decision.
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In verse 4 through 6, now we see a divine derision. Verse 4 says,
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He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. This is God's response to this. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh.
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The Lord shall have them in derision. The Lord shall have them in derision. The Lord's derision, in essence, is the confounding of the wise.
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That's what it means. God confounds the wise. He gives grace to the humble.
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It doesn't matter what title people put themselves in this.
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Scripture says, God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. God hates pride.
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God hates pride. The Lord's derision. First Corinthians 1 .20, the apostle
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Paul says, Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world?
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Had not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? Had not
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God made foolish the wisdom of this world? What a question. Notice the questions.
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And you know, Paul is paraphrasing Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah 19 .12 here, which says, and the prophet says this,
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Where are they? Where are thy wise men? And let them tell thee now, and let them know what the
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Lord of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt. See, God reigns and He's in control.
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He confounds the wise. Now the question, the real question before us is really this.
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What does God have to say? What does God have to say about it? Isn't that the question?
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What does God have to say? I like what Paul the apostle says, Let God be true, and every man found liar.
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Oh, what a verse. Let God be true, and every man found liar.
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What does God say about it? Look at verse 3. It says, Let us break their bands asunder and cast away the cords, okay?
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And then He says, What would the King of heaven do to those who reject not only
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His begotten Son and heir of all things? Notice God doesn't get alarmed. He doesn't take panic because they have mentioned,
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Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us. There's a quiet dignity here about God.
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He's not alarmed. He doesn't get into a state of panic. He actually is in quiet stillness of reigning upon the throne.
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And God pours out contempt. He despises them, actually, because their attempts are futile.
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God laughs. It's almost like a laughter, like, it's not like a glee, a laughter, like, these people are going to be punished and going to hell.
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It's like God is like, Huh, yeah, really? Who do you think you are?
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It's like, God is the creator. This is God, Almighty God, who has unlimited power, unlimited infinite wisdom.
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His presence is everywhere, and all He has to do is speak the word. And that's where it's going. He laughs.
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First, He laughs before He speaks. There's a laughter of God here. And He who sits in the heavens shall laugh.
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Psalm 37, 13 says, The Lord shall laugh at him, for he seeth his day is coming.
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There's a judgment day. Now, a lot of people don't like to hear about judgment day, do they? Just like that lady
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I was talking to at that restaurant, she didn't want to hear about the wrath and the righteousness of God. Tell me about God's love.
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Tell me about the thing I want to... Hey, look, you're not going to understand the good news of the gospel until you first get the bad news right.
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Because, first of all, you've got to get the bad news. You've got to know who you are. We've got to know who we are.
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We've got to know we are sinners in the hands of an angry God. That is not so popular today, is it?
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But Jonathan Edwards was right when he preached that. And even in that day when he preached that sermon, after he got finished, he was sickly and he just stood up with a candlelight and said it in weakness.
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And after he preached that sermon, people were literally falling on their faces and clutching onto the pews, thinking they were falling into hell.
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I tell you, I'd love to see in churches that kind of revival take place, wouldn't you? Commentator Derek Kidner says this, but it becomes very plain that the only laughing matter here is the arrogance itself, not the suffering it will cause before it ends.
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Not the suffering it will cause before it ends. It's actually the arrogance. God looks at the vanity of man and the way man plots against him, and he laughs, and God isn't afraid.
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He's not confused. He's not depressed about it. About the rebellion, Matthew Henry says, sometimes
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God is said to awake and arise and stir up Himself for the vanquishing of His enemies.
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But here, Henry says, He is said to sit still and vanquish them.
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God laughs because He sits in the heavens. He sits in the heavens.
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God laughs because He sits in the heavens. It is on earthly thrones that He occupies.
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It's the heavenly throne. We must remember this, beloved, that God reigns over the whole entire universe.
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Earth is a speck of the largeness of God, and you see this universe of the greatness of the suns and even the great telescopes that we have on this earth, and they've even seen suns that make earth disappear, the vastness of it.
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And you think God spoke all this in existence. It's absolutely staggering by the word of His power.
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God laughs. He has all authority, not some authority, but all authority over creation, over nations before Him as nothing.
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That's what the prophet says. It is in the earthly throne. Over all creation, nations before Him as nothing.
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They are counted to Him as less than nothing. Nations in vanity. To whom then will you liken
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God? Or what likeness will you compare unto Him? You can't, cannot.
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G. Campbell Morgan, the great interpreter, by the way, he was a convert of D .L.
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Moody. D .L. Moody won this one soul to Christ, and Campbell Morgan became one of the greatest expositors in England.
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Of this verse, he says this, the derisive laughter of God is the comfort of all who love righteousness.
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It is the laughter of the might of holiness. It is the laughter of the strength of love. God does not exult over the sufferings of sinning men.
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He does not, I'm sorry, He does hold in derision all the proud boastings and violence of such as seek to prevent
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His accomplishments of His will. End quote.
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So after God laughs, what does He do? He speaks. He speaks.
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Look, God laughs in heaven, but He doesn't remain inactive. It's not like He does nothing.
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He does something. He does speak. And that's all He really has to do is speak. Because when
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He speaks, as you well know, when Jesus was on this earth, and the men that was, the disciples that were with Him, they were in a raging storm, and Jesus was sleeping in the bottom of the boat.
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You know the story. They thought they were going to die and perish, and they said, Master, don't you care that we perish?
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Jesus arises and rebukes them lovingly. Oh, you of little faith. And all
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He does, and He says, peace, peace still. Isn't that powerful?
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And that's all God has to do is speak. And here is the Son, His anointed, the Christ. He speaks to the storm, peace.
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In other words, He said, be quiet, total calm. Then they were fearful more of the storm.
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Not of the storm. They were more fearful of who Jesus was. What manner of man is this? He speaks to the storms, and they still.
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God laughs in the heavens. He laughs, but He doesn't remain inactive. Psalm 90, 11 says,
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Who knoweth the power of thine anger? Even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.
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I couldn't help but think of Psalm 29 here. Let me read some of that.
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Psalm 29 speaks of the voice of the Lord. Verse 2,
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Give unto the Lord glory due unto His name. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. The voice of the
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Lord is upon the waters. The glory of God, the God of glory thundereth. The Lord is upon many waters.
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The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars.
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Yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon. He maketh them also to skip like calves.
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Lebanon and Sauron like the young unicorn. The voice of the
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Lord divided the flames of the fire. The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness. The Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kedash.
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Read about that this morning. The voice of the Lord maketh His hounds to calve and discovereth the forest.
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And in His temple doeth everyone speak of His glory. The Lord sitteth upon the flood.
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Yea, the Lord sitteth king forever. And the Lord will give strength unto His people.
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The Lord will bless His people with peace. Isn't that wonderful? The voice of the Lord. He speaks.
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He speaks. Look at verse 6. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill
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Zion. Beloved, this is the verse. This is it. Along with verse 7, it's actually the center, the core of this chapter.
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It's the centerpiece. The centerpiece because the answer of the long -awaited why in verse 1 through 5 is expounded through verse 8 through 12.
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Lord willing, we'll get to that next week. It is the very heart of this chapter.
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The emphatic I. The I is emphatic. The opening is best translated. But as for me,
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I have set. After the threat from the raging heathen and the raging
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Gentiles, the nations that rage against God. This is the neglected voice that has the final say right here.
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And again, it's almost as it ties into Psalm 46, 6. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved.
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And then it says, He uttered His voice and the earth melted. Think of that.
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In the last days, you know, God's going to destroy this earth with intense heat.
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And it's going to be burned. People don't like to hear that. But flee from the wrath to come.
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Go to Jesus and repent because there's a day of judgment that's coming. And the word set.
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I like the word set. Here is a word specially associated with leaders and their installation in office.
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It means enthroned. It means installed. He has set. He has set my
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King upon my holy hill, Zion. The Heavenly Father has installed
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His Son, enthroned Him, and He cannot be impeached. No one moves
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Him on His holy hill, Jerusalem's hill, namely
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Zion, Mount Zion. This is glorious. This is glorious.
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God has already done what the enemies seek to prevent. And while they're proposing,
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God has disposed. Isn't that wonderful? What all the people and the depraved people and what
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Satan would like to do is prevent what God is doing.
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But God has already done it. Isn't that glorious? Jesus is
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King. He's resurrected. And if you and I are in Christ, we're more than conquerors in Christ.
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And that's the key. We must make sure that we're in Christ and Christ is in us.
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We must make sure that we're born again of the Spirit of God. We must make sure that we've repented of our sins and we're in Christ.
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God's will is done. Little man's France rages in vain.
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He's raging in vain. And all those that do this will perish.
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But God offers everlasting life through His Son, Jesus Christ. God's anointed, His appointed.
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I love that. Now, through the ages of unbelief and all the things spoken against the
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Most High God, we need to listen to the voice of the Most High God, right?
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What is He saying? This is my beloved Son. Hear ye Him. When Jesus was on this earth,
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God spoke a few times audibly. First at the baptism and John the
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Baptist. And John the Baptist knew who Jesus was. Oh my. He says, who am
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I to baptize you? He said, I'm not even worthy to unlatch your sandals. I'm not even worthy to bow down and to unlatch your sandals.
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And you come to me to want me to baptize you? Could you imagine?
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And this is one of the greatest men that ever lived outside of Jesus.
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John the Baptist. Jesus has suffered to be so, to fulfill all righteousness.
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And he baptized Him. And Jesus, we know why He was baptized. He was representing all of God's people.
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Not because He sinned. We know He was sinless. He didn't need baptism and cleansing. He was representing us.
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He was representing His people that would believe in Him. And after He rose up, we read in Scripture that the
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Spirit of God came upon Him in the form of a dove. The Holy Spirit came upon Him in the form of a dove. And then the
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Father spoke, This is my beloved Son, in whom I'm well pleased.
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Right there He says, I'm well pleased. Mount Transfiguration, hear ye Him. Wow. All points to Jesus, right?
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He reigns. Jesus shall reign. Malachi, Micah, I'm sorry, 5, 4.
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He shall be great to the ends of the earth. He shall be great. And even now, He reigns in Zion.
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Let me conclude with one more verse, if I got time. I may pick up here next week.
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But if you go to Matthew chapter 13, I believe. It's all about the anointed one, right?
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I believe it's 16. Yes, chapter 16, my mistake.
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And if you look at this pivotal point in Jesus' ministry, verse 13 through 18.
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I just want to read it. I don't have time to really elaborate on it. But you know how important this verse is. Brother Keith brought this message to us around a year ago,
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I believe. Who is Jesus? Who is Jesus? And this is everything. He's the anointed one, right?
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When Jesus came in verse 13 into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, He asked
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His disciples saying, Who do men say, I the Son of Man am?
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He first asked them the question, Whose men say that I am? And He's going in the direction here. He's going to get personal now.
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And He's bringing them in. See, Jesus knew how to bring people into the conversation and give them the question.
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And they said, the disciples here, Some say, thou art John the
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Baptist. Some, Elias, which is Elijah. Others, Jeremiah, the weeping prophet.
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Elijah was a prophet of fire or one of the prophets. I believe it was
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Boyce at the G3 conference. Ben, Brother Ben brought this to my attention that these apostles,
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These disciples liking Jesus, Are saying others liking Jesus, Like Jeremiah, the weeping prophet,
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Or Elijah, the prophet of fire. And these were not weak men. These were men.
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Powerful men of God, as we well know. But Jesus was even greater.
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He said, greater than Solomon's here, greater than Elijah's here, right? Well, He saith unto them,
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But whom say ye that I am? He gets personal. And isn't it a personal question?
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Who do you say Jesus is? This is what we should be asking people. Who do you say Jesus is? And you can learn a lot how people answer that question.
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Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ. Thou art the Christ. The Son of the living
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God. Ten words. Thou art the Christ.
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The anointed one. That's no small saying. That's a revelation. That's the confession of the church.
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Jesus answered and said to him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona. For flesh and blood have not revealed it unto thee.
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But my Father which is in heaven, And I say also unto thee that thou art
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Peter. And upon this rock, He's speaking of Himself. We know that the Catholics has reinterpreted that as like Peter.
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But we know the rock, the rock. Upon this rock,
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I will build my church. Not Peter, but Jesus. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
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I'll stop right there. The all important question is, We must know who
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Jesus is. He is the anointed one. He is the Son. Thou art the Christ.
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The anointed one. The Son of the living God. Let's make sure that we know who
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Christ is and He knows us. Because really in the end, That's all that's going to matter.
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Is knowing Christ. Knowing Christ. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank
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You. All the foes in vain that come against Thee, O God.
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Rage against Thee are like rising waves with angry war.
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And Father, You would dash and they would dash them. You would dash them and they would die upon the shore.
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O God, Almighty Lord, You are holy. You reign forever and ever.
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You are the Lord. You are the champion. You are the King of glory.
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Who is the King of glory? The Lord God Almighty, strong in battle. Thank You, Father, that You have given the victory through Jesus Christ.
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He will reign forever and ever. Lord, may we look to Him, the captain of our salvation.
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Our Redeemer. Our only hope. Lord, as the closing of the
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Bible says, Even so come, Lord Jesus. We know that the world is coming to a consummation end.
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And we don't know how much longer. But You have a calendar, Lord. You have a timetable. And You're always on time.
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Lord, may we look up as the Scripture says, For our redemption draws nigh. Lord, help us to be filled with Your Spirit.
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And may we be obedient to Your Word of all the revelation You have given us. Forgive us,
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O God, for being slack. Forgive us for being dull. Forgive us,
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O God, for not fighting the good fight of faith like we should be. Lord, fill us all with Your Holy Spirit.
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And may we humble ourselves before Your mighty hand. That You may exalt us in due time. Only because of Jesus.
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Not because of anything we've done. Because we are small and puny. But, O God, You are great.
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We thank You for the greatness and the majesty and the glory. Lord, be with Your church today.
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And especially those that are being persecuted, Lord. Especially Your people right now in Ukraine, O God.
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That's going through such persecution. Seeing such death and horrific war.
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And Lord, we know what Your Son said. Wars and rumors of wars.
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But these are just the beginning of birth pains. These are just the beginnings, God. Prepare us now. Prepare us now.
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But may we never forget. There's a great invitation that stands for everyone. May we give the gospel out and You give the invitation.
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Ho in everyone that thirsts, come to the waters. And He that hath no money.
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He that is poor and humble. He that has nothing. Come and buy and eat. Come and buy wine and milk without money and without price.
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Lord, it's been bought and paid for. We thank You. We thank You for the great redemption in Jesus Christ.
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And we give You all the glory for Your Son, Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory.