When God's Word Is Applied (Psalm Chapter 2 - Part 1)

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. Psalm chapter 2. A couple years ago I preached a message titled, Why Did the Heathen Rage? And based on the amens and the response that I got, it was probably my most popular sermon.

But at the same time, I think it was also my most unpopular sermon. Not just because our church sign got spray painted, although it did as the result of it. But the heathen, they didn't like that message very much.

Why? Because I took what the word of God said and I applied it to the modern day. I took what scripture said and I applied it to what was going on right then and there. And people sometimes, they don't like that.

Sometimes it's more comfortable to keep the word of God in the past. Now when we open the Bible and read the Bible, the teachings of the Bible, yeah, this stuff was said and done back then. So if we leave it in the past, then we don't have to do anything about it in the present.

That's more comfortable for some people. But what we need to do is take scriptural principles and apply it to what you're going through right now. To what we're going through right now. If you read the Bible carefully, in almost every book, the authors of scripture were talking about things that were going on right then and there.

They were addressing issues of their day. They would go back to the Old Testament. The apostles would do this. Go back to the Old Testament. What are some scriptural principles? And they would bring the word of God to bear.

They would apply it to their current situation. So that's the title of the message. Why did the heathen rage? Part 2. And it's all about the necessity of applying the word of God. And we not only believe the word of God.

Jesus said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by what?

Every word.

You shall live by the word of God. And when the heathen see Christians living the word of God, and when they see that we are trying to uphold God's word, that makes them angry. But if we don't do that, we will never accomplish a single thing.

And we will be unfaithful. And when we stand before God, if we never apply his word, can we really expect to hear the words, well done, good and faithful servant, if we never apply it? Okay, so that's the introduction.

The Raging Nations and the Blessed Man

Let's read Psalm chapter 2, verses 1 through 4. And we'll go through this verse by verse and explain the original meaning and context. David writes, why did the heathen rage? And the people imagine a vain thing.

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. And he that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh, and the Lord shall have them in derision.

So why do the heathen rage? You notice, what are they trying to do? They don't want God's rule upheld. They want to break away from God. They don't like God's commandments. They want to do whatever they want.

And then when they see servants of God obeying God, applying the word of God, speaking about the things of God, it angers them. So let's start out with a basic question. What is a heathen? You'll notice I'm reading from the King James Version.

The New King James Version translates the word nations. But what is a heathen? Well, the Hebrew word is goi, and it can also be translated as nations. Maybe you've heard Jewish people talk about the goyim.

Well, who or what is the goyim?

What is it?

Me.

Yeah, it's you.

It's me.

It's non-Jews. So in the original context, David is talking about people outside of the nation of Israel. Of course, when Christians, New Testament Christians, talk about the heathen, basically we're talking about unbelievers.

You can just look at it that way. The heathen, and if I say heathens, please excuse me, because heathen is plural. So heathens with an S is really not correct. But we're talking about unbelievers. So it's the lost people of this world.

The heathen are raging. Is that true that the heathen are raging today? Well, it was true back when I said it in May or June of 2020, and it's also true today. So these are the people that reject the word of God, and they reject faith in the one true God.

David is the author of this psalm. So why did David write it? To help us understand, I think it would be helpful to go back to Psalm 1, because most people believe, most scholars believe that Psalm 1 and Psalm 2 were actually written together.

So let's look at Psalm 1. David writes, One thing that New Testament Christians, some New Testament Christians, the only thing they know or care about God's law is that they're not under it. We're not under law, we're under grace.

And they think they can just kind of disregard the whole Old Testament, which makes up two-thirds of the Bible. But no, God's law is still true. It's still true. Not all of it applies to us, but it's all still true.

So David talks about the blessed man. His delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law, he doth meditate day and night. Verse 3, And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season.

His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth, he shall prosper. Okay, so in verse 1, the term walk or walketh, it refers to one's pattern of life. So the blessed man not only thinks about the law of God, he not only reads and considers what God's word says, it is his meditation all the day.

On top of that, he delights in it. He walks in it. His life is characterized by what the word of God says. Christians often will talk about seeking God's will. You want to seek God's will or you want to know what God's will is for your life.

You know, there's an answer that Paul gives to the church at Thessalonica. He said, this is the will of God for your life.

And what was it?

Your sanctification. So God's will for our life, our pattern of life should be conformity to the person of Jesus Christ. Now, that's something we all know, and we all know it's true. As a Christian, you're a follower of Christ.

But are we really day by day walking in that manner of life? Are we seeking to apply God's word? Look at verse 4. If you do, you'll be blessed, he says, but the ungodly are not so. But they are like the chaff which the wind driveth the way.

Therefore, the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. So to put it simply, those who obey God, they are the ones blessed by God.

If you want to be blessed by God, you need to, yes, seek God's will for your life. Grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ, but you need to obey God. So we're saved by grace through faith, amen? Grace alone, faith alone, and Christ alone.

But from then on out, the Christian life is one of growth, and we are to obey the Lord. So the man who is blessed by God is the one who is obeying God. The heathen, on the other hand, they're the ones who are angry.

Why? David moves into chapter 2. They are angry, not because somebody is out there who believes differently than they are. They're not angry. They're not raging because there's this book called the Bible, and there's words written in there that they don't like.

That's not really what it's about. The heathen are angry because God's people are working to see God's rule established. See, that's the problem. They don't care what you believe in your heart. They don't care what we're doing in this room here on Sunday morning.

Well, they might care if they catch wind of something, but they don't really care about you and your personal thoughts and feelings. What they care about, what they can't stand, is when you actually try to do something for God.

When they see Christians trying to make a difference in this world, that is why the heathen are raging. Now, in the Old Testament, today we have a spiritual nation called the church. In the Old Testament, you had what?

You had a physical nation, the nation of Israel. So, in the church today, it's the church, and the heathen are raging because they hate to see God's word applied. They hate to see any visible sign of God's kingdom.

They hate it when God's word starts to make a difference, and they want to break free from God's sovereign rule. Now, David, David is the author of this song. When you think of David, who was he, or what was he?

Yeah, David was a king, wasn't he? David had actual authority. As the king of the nation, David was a man who had authority. David was God's anointed. Remember that occasion when the prophet Samuel anointed David with oil in the presence of his brethren.

So, David was God's anointed, and the word Christ means what?

Anointed.

So, you could say that in the immediate context of Psalm chapter 2, David was God's anointed, and David was a king with real authority, and he sought to see God's rule upheld. And all the nations, the heathen around him, they hated David.

They wanted to conquer David and his kingdom. But David, as God's anointed king, that's not really what this psalm is about. Who is this psalm truly about? Who is God's, who is, you know, the anointed of God?

Right.

Anointed means Messiah, or it means Christ in the Greek. So, really what this psalm is talking about is the lost people of this world, the last thing they want to see is this man, Jesus Christ, ruling over them.

As many of you know, when a church starts to make a difference, or even if you just go out in the community, the more you talk about the Lord, the more opposition you're going to face. If you keep it quiet and you don't really say anything, you're never going to face any adversity.

But if you talk about the Lord, if you seek to make a difference, it's going to cause them to rage. So, David was an actual king who had authority. Jesus is what? He's the king of kings, isn't he? So, the throne of Christ, if you take notes, write this down, the throne of Christ is a throne of ultimate authority.

David had so much authority in Israel, but the throne of Christ is a heavenly throne, and Christ's authority is in heaven and on earth. Isn't that what Jesus said in the Great Commission, Matthew 28, verse 18, that all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth?

Do you believe that? Okay, how do you apply that, though? Do we want to see it applied? See, that's where people start getting nervous at the application. So, here's the thing about David. David's enemies, theoretically, they could defeat David.

They could kill David, and he'd be dead and gone. But what are you going to do to God? What are you going to do to God? You really can't do anything to God, can you? What did they do to Christ when he came?

They did kill him, but what happened? He rose again the third day, and then he ministered on this earth for a period of 40 days, and then he ascended into heaven where he is enthroned on high, and ever since Jesus ascended into heaven for the past 2 ,000 years, his church has been spreading all over the world, and the heathen can't stand it.

But here's the thing. They can't do anything about it, so they take it out on you. They take it out on God's servants. Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornick Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, morriscornickchurch .com.

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.