The World is Coming to an End - But we Have a King part 1

Well take your Bible and turn back with me to Psalm chapter 2. We were in Psalm chapter 2 earlier. Now I said that we'll cover only half of the chapter. That would be verses 1 to 6. So we'll have a part 2 next week. I do that sometimes when I'm studying a portion of scripture. If it looks like we just need a little more time to be able to cover it thoroughly, I'll go ahead and make that a part 1 and a part 2. So if you're studying ahead, you'll know where we'll be next Sunday night. So you can meditate over these verses, pray over these verses. We talked about meditation last week in chapter 1.

And so you'll be ready for the part 2, which will be next week. Now last night, or last Sunday night, we started our Sunday night series, which is in the book of Psalms. Now we had planned, I had planned to go through some materials for our church in reconstituting. Most of you know, if you don't know, we have just moved, we've relocated. We're in a new facility. In downtown Brookhaven, we have the old first Presbyterian church. It is a venue now, and we were able to rent the facility. We're very, very thankful.

And so we're in the middle of moving and reconstituting as a church, but we didn't really feel like that was good to go through on a Sunday night during these times. So we just put that material aside and we thought it was a good thing to go through the Psalms. And I'll give a little more explanation in a little while. But I think this is a good thing. I do. We're still meeting over God's word. We're meeting as a church. And because of technology, we're meeting with friends and family members. And I believe God will use these times and use these scriptures and use the Psalms for all of us.

Now, last week I shared with you that there were three reasons that I felt led to go into these Psalms. I did three things last week. First of all, I shared my personal love for the book. I shared with you that many times as I am reading and studying during times of trial, times of crisis, times of questioning, many times I find myself in the book of Psalms. And when this coronavirus pandemic really broke, I did, I found myself back in certain portions of the scripture. And then last week I did briefly introduce the book. Now I did say that I'll give a little introductory material really as we go along. So just look for that material.

That helps us understand the book. It helps us know what we're studying and reading. And it does help us in application. But then third last week, I did teach through chapter one. Now I believe chapter one was very helpful. Chapter one is extremely personal. It's very, very practical. And it's not wrong to say that chapter one is even very devotional. It is very devotional. Simply we saw that we must be rooted and planted. That was the title of the message. We have to be rooted and planted. We must be like a tree planted by streams of living water. That would be the Lord Jesus Christ rooted in God's word.

Therefore we are growing in the Lord, growing in our relationship with God. So I say this to all of us. No matter what goes on in our culture, no matter what goes on in our lives, no matter what goes on with this coronavirus pandemic, no matter where it goes, better or worse, we must be planted in Christ, rooted in Christ, rooted in his word, because the storms of life will come. One day the doctor could look at you and use the word cancer. You could find your place where you are jobless. You lose your job. You could face the death of a loved one. You might have circumstances that bring suffering into your life.

You name it, there are a myriad of circumstances that could come into our life that could bring crisis. So we must be planted and rooted. And I thought that that was very timely. Well, this evening we are going to get into the second chapter. I've said that numerous times. Now, some Bible scholars say that Psalm 1 and Psalm 2 were originally together. They do point out that Psalm 1 and 2 are very, very different. But in the Hebrew text, the text that the Jews would have used, the first two chapters were really one book. And that's why commentators will say that. But one commentator pointed out some differences.

This really resonated with me all week. In Psalm 1, we see that the Psalmist deals with the word. But then in Psalm 2, we see that the Psalmist David, he deals with the world. In Psalm 1, he deals with the personal life of a man. That was very personal and practical. We've already discussed that. But Psalm 2 deals with the historical life of humanity. And there's some other differences that you could point out as well. Now, Psalm 1 is really a precursor of what is to come. Let me say that again. Psalm 1 is a precursor of what is to come. Because all throughout the Psalms, we're gonna see teaching on the devotional life of a man.

So look for that. Look for devotional type material, practical personal material. And we need that. We do need that in our life. But chapter 2 is a precursor of what's to come as well. All throughout the Psalms, we will see the purposes of God in human history and ultimately the destiny of peoples and kings and nations. So look for two major things going on here. And there are others, we'll deal with those as we move along. Look for teaching that pertains to our own personal life. And also look for teaching that reveals God's plan throughout human history and beyond. And we will see a very personal loving God, yes.

But we will see a sovereign God who rules all nations and peoples with justice. And we definitely need to see that and understand that today. Now, next week I will come back to some introductory material. But I do wanna mention two important things before we get into this chapter. This is very pertinent for us tonight. First of all, the person of God or the character of God. Or you could say the attributes of God. The Psalms are full of teaching on the personal character of God. In my own personal time, I made a photocopy. One commentator listed the attributes, the character of God found all throughout the Psalms.

And oh, these need to be taught. We need to understand these. We'll see that God is the most high God. He is the sovereign God. He is the wise and even wrathful God. He is holy and he is immutable. In other words, he's unchangeable. We'll see that he is great, but also we'll see that he's gracious and good and glorious and kind and merciful. But we'll also see that he is accessible. But second, many of the Psalms are messianic in nature. That means that they speak to the promised Messiah. Yes, many of the Psalms talk about Jesus. And Psalm two is messianic and it is prophetic, meaning it will speak about future events.

And again, I will continue to give us some introductory material, art material about the book itself as we go along. Now I wanna show you how we're gonna approach Psalm two. We will have a very unique perspective here. We'll have a very unique view here. The old Bible commentator, J. Vernon McGee, he calls Psalm two, the drama for the ages. I'd like you to remember that. I'm gonna use that some. J. Vernon McGee, he calls Psalm two, the drama for the ages. He goes on to say that we have one camera on earth and then we have one camera in heaven. That's very good. But for me, I see these verses as windows. I see these verses as windows.

We have windows which allow us to see certain scenes. We have windows which tell us a story. Now some of you have been in our sanctuary, some of you have not, but our sanctuary here is filled with beautiful stained glass windows. And we're very thankful for this facility. And when we're able to meet back together, we'll be able to worship together. And if you are listening and you don't have a church home, we invite you to come and worship with us. But in our church facility, we have some beautiful stained glass windows. Now some of you might not know the history of stained glass windows.

You might not know that these windows had a very big purpose. First of all, they were practical. In days when they did not have lighting, they served to light up a worship facility. But one reason was communication. In days of old, most people could not read and write. I remember learning about this fact when I studied church history in my seminary days. So stained glass windows were used in the churches to tell stories. They were educational. It was meant for worship as well.

Now just imagine with me, imagine if you couldn't read or write and you couldn't open up God's Word and you couldn't read it, but you could come into a worship facility and you could see windows which portray biblical scenes. Maybe Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration or maybe a scene of Noah and his Ark. And see that would be educational, but it would be very worshipful for you. Well in Psalm two, we're going to look at four windows. Four windows which tell us four individual stories and of course these all tie together. And again, I love how J. Burnham McGee, he calls it, this is the drama for the ages.

Now tonight we're only gonna look at the two windows, the first two, and then we will get into the second two or the last two windows next week. So let's go back to our verses. I want us to read verses one to six. And then we're going to get into how we will divide the verses. Verse one, why are the nations in an uproar? Why are the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth, they take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed. Verse three, let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us.

He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them and then he will speak to them in his anger and terrify them in his fury. Verse six, but as for me, I have installed or anointed my king upon Zion, my holy mountain. So we're gonna look at two windows tonight. So number one, window number one, I want us to see man's rebellion. We have in verses one, two and three, man's rebellion. Now mark it down, underline it, highlight it in your notes. Verses one to three are all about the rebellion of mankind against God. Now if you think about it and you know your Bibles, you know that this all started in the garden.

Even Adam both disobeyed God. And rebellion against God has plagued man and the world ever since. And here we have not just the story of rebellion, but we have a description of that rebellion as well. So we have a window picturing the rebellion of mankind against God. See, the nations have taken up arms, mankind has attacked Fort Sumter. Now in these verses, we see the thoughts of a man and peoples and nations. We see the thoughts and the actions of these peoples and nations. And so I want us to look at this rebellion in detail. There are four observations we're gonna make right out of the verses. First notice this rebellion is assumed.

We see that this rebellion is assumed. It's stated, verse one, why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? So verse one, I want us to see that we have a question. But this question declares that we have a rebellion underway. The verse reads, why do the nations rage? Not are the nations raging, you see? Now notice a few details about the rebellion. The people rage, the English Standard Version says. The new American Standard says that they are in an uproar. This means to plot or to imagine. One scholar says that they are seething in revolt here. And then we see that the kings take their stand in verse two.

This goes from the peoples to the leaders of the peoples. Instead of the kings stopping the revolt in the people, the kings and the rulers, they take counsel. They join in an alliance together. So together the kings, they form a rebellion. The peoples and the kings and the nations. So we see this rebellion from peoples to nations and to kings. And then second, we see this rebellion against. We see this rebellion against. Now the new American Standard and the English Standard Version say the same thing. This rebellion is against God and his anointed one.

Now this anointed in the original language, the Hebrew language, it was the word for Messiah. This is prophetic and this is messianic. This speaks of God's anointed and prophesied Messiah. This is Jesus. So we have this rebellion and this rebellion is against God and it is against God's son, Jesus. And then third, we see that this rebellion is acted out. Let me go back to the verses. Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take their counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed.

And then verse three, let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us. Here in verse three, we see a quote from the nations, from the peoples. This is the answer to verse one. Why do the nations rage in verse one? Because they wanna break free from God that we see in verse three. The nations do not wanna be submissive to God. They do not wanna be under the lordship of God. They want autonomy. They want their freedom from God. They see God and his commands as bondage instead of seeing God's commands as cords of compassion. They see them as a yoke of bondage.

And just like Adam and Eve in the garden, they believed the devil's lie and they wanted to be like God. So we see this rebellion and it's acted out. The nations are acting out against God and his anointed son, Jesus. And then fourth, we see this rebellion is in vain. Now save this for the last. We see this back at verse one. Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising in vain? See this word vain, it really means empty. So what do we see? They rage, they devise, they form alliances all against God and his son and it's in vain. It's in vain. It is totally, totally empty. So in summary, notice what we have here.

Take a step back from the verses. We have a window, remember? We have this beautiful window which portrays man's history. This is from God's perspective now, not from man's perspective 'cause man would always distort this story. Peoples and nations and kings have rebelled against God. They have broken the compassionate confines of God's holy law and they have severed from God's sovereign rule over them. This is nothing more than rebellion. The rebellion of peoples and nations and kings. But we need to see the fuller picture here. We do. Mankind, nations and kings have rebelled against God all throughout the Old Testament.

The story of the Old Testament is a story of peoples and kings and nations rebelling against God. People going their own way. The Old Testament book shows us that. The Old Testament Amos, the prophet Amos, shows us the rebellion of all of the peoples all around the nation of Israel. But in the New Testament, we see this rebellion even more clearly. The entire time Jesus was on earth, what do we have? Peoples and kings and nations conspiring and rebelling against God's son. And then if we go into Acts, Acts chapter four, verses 25 to 38, it shows us that the early church clearly understood Psalm chapter two in light of their times.

They saw Pilate and the Romans right here in verses one to three. They saw the Jewish leaders right here in verses one to three. They understood that both the Gentile nations and the Jewish nation were rebelling against God and God's holy, anointed Messiah. You see? Now in application, what must we see here? This didn't just go on in Old Testament times or New Testament times. This goes on today in our world and even in our nation. Now a few questions here in application. So follow along and I believe that the light will just come on and you'll see this window more clearly and how it applies today.

So question, why does our culture allow the murder of millions of innocent babies in the womb? Why do peoples and rulers rage against God? Why do people in our land, government officials, reject his commands? Why do people in government positions reject God's sovereign rule? Listen, why in the world would a people wholesale murder innocent human life? It's verse one. They're in uproar, they're in rage against the God of the universe. Why does our culture hate more and more God's word in the church and God's people? Listen, the peoples and the rulers, they rage against God.

They rage against God's people, God's ways, and God's church and we see that becoming more and more of an issue in our land. Why do governments in this world like North Korea and China and India and Iran and many, many more, why do they persecute Christians to death? Why do they stamp out the church? Listen, the rulers of those nations rage against God. They rage against God's people, God's church, and they rage against God's rule over their land. We see this in our culture. We see this in our government leaders. We see an entire nation refusing to turn to God during a global pandemic.

Simply our nation, they do not want to repent and turn to God. They rage against a sovereign God. They refuse to repent and turn to God. Now it's sad, but you'll see a worldly sorrow in times of difficulty. I remember the days of the terrorist's attack, 9/11. I remember that vividly. You know, right after that, the churches were full. But what happened? Everybody just went back to their own way. If you talk to old timers about how things were during World War II and other times of war, we can even see it with times of natural disasters. People will run to church, but what do they do? They go right back.

And I want you to see that tragedy and sickness in times of war, those things still do not bring nations to their knees in repentance to God. And so listen, this needs to be seen. There is a distinct difference between God's true people and the world. Now I'm not talking about the evangelical world as we see it. I'm talking about the true church, the church that is blood-bought, God's people. Listen, they walk with God, pandemic or not. War or not, hurricane, tornado, natural disaster. Listen, they walk with God. And the world will not, the world will not seek God. The peoples and the nations and the kings, they will rage against God.

And even when a pandemic comes and they should turn to God, they will rage against God. But what does verse one say? It's all in vain. It's empty. It's a hollow rebellion. It's a paper tiger. And so this should give you answers. This should answer the question, why? Why do the nations do as they do? Why do government officials do as they do? Why? And look, this should also be a clear dividing line. See, you see why the world reacts the way the world reacts and you see who is who. You know, I thought about a good illustration that might help you a little bit. This comes back from our youth ministry years.

Many of you know that I served as a youth pastor for over 10 years. And one of the things that I always did is we always had a visitation program. We would always meet up and go knock on some doors and we did various things in that visitation program but we ministered to people and we went out. And I'll never forget one time I had a group of guys with me and we went to visit a student who had visited our church and we pulled up to the house and I was in my wife's car and there on the porch was a beware of the dog sign. Well, the dog was sitting on the porch. He looked rather friendly to me.

I was probably kind of trying to show out a little in front of those guys, but I just looked at him and I said, let me show you how to do this. And I got out of the car and I kind of talked to the dog and you know, he appeared pretty friendly but about the time I got between the car and the porch, the friendliness went away. And I found out why there was a beware of the dog sign on the porch and I literally had to jump on top of the car. So what's the point of the story, the principle there? I should have listened to the sign, beware of the dog. And so listen folks, you need to see this. You need to take heed, you need to be sober.

And what I'm trying to show you is beware of the world. You need to see who the world is and why the world does what it does. And there's a clear dividing line and anytime God's people in the church wanna get friendly with the world, it destroys the work of the church every time. And so this serves to show us who and why, who the world is and why the world does what it does. And we see that intensified, especially in days of crisis like this. So let's move on, I want us to see window number two. Remember, we're looking at these verses through the lens of windows, the scenes of windows which God has given us.

So window number two is God's reaction. We see God's reaction in verses four to six. Let's read those verses. He who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord scoffs at them, who is to them? The peoples and the nations and the kings. Verse five, then he will speak to them in his anger and terrify them in his fury. But as for me, I have installed my king upon Zion, my holy hill. Now here we see the story goes on and now we see God's reaction. Verses four to six are all about God's reaction to man's rebellion against him.

Again, we're looking at another window, but instead of a window picturing the activity on earth, here we have a window picturing the activity in heaven. God himself cracks the door and allows us to see into heaven and to see into eternity. Now I'm explaining verses four to six. I want us to see three specifics, three observations. We're just working our way through these verses. So first notice, we see that God scoffs out of verse four. We see that God scoffs. Look at the verse. He who sits in the heavens laughs and the Lord scoffs at them. Now the New American that I'm reading from uses the word laughs.

One commentator, a writer said that God derides them for their foolishness. I like that, it's true. He derides them for their foolishness. But notice the picture. The one and only sovereign God who is sitting on his throne in majesty, he observes the foolish rebellion of mankind. And he does what? How does he react? He scoffs, he laughs. One writer said it like this. He is the eternal creator and the transcendent Lord of all things. News from earth, does it dismay him or make him nervous? He doesn't read the daily newspaper to keep current. You can tell that's an older writer. In our language we can say it like this.

He doesn't look at social media to keep current. Now think about the stupidity here. Yes, this is stupidity. The created is fighting against the creator and God laughs. God laughs. Oh, but there is one important thing that we mustn't see and understand. God's laugh is not the laughter of humor like some big Santa Claus figure in the sky. Listen, God in his holiness is offended. The most holy, the most high God is offended and at this most sinful of sins and that is rebellion against his sovereign loving rule. So first we see that God scoffs. Second, we see that God speaks. We see this in verse five. We see that God speaks. Look at the verse.

Then he will speak to them in his anger and terrify them in his fury. Now in verse five we do not see the words of God but the fact that he will speak. He does speak. Here we see God's reaction. This is the window in the heaven. God is interacting. He is intervening with this rebellion of man. So one window, so with one window we see God's rebellion and then with this window we see God's reaction and now they are connected with one another. Now question, what does he speak? Words of anger, words of fury. Again, this is the wrath of a holy God. And then the third specific, the third observation, we see God's son.

So notice we see that God scoffs. We see that God speaks and now we see God's son. Verse six, "But as for me, I have installed or anointed my king upon Zion, my holy mountain." Here we have the answer to verse three. Yes, verse six is the answer to verse three. I love how John MacArthur put this. He says, verse three, "Is there puny challenge?" It is their puny challenge. And it is answered by this powerful pronouncement. Let's go back and look at verse three. "Let us tear," the nations are saying, "Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us. But what does God say in verse six?

But as for me, I have installed my king upon Zion, my holy mountain." Now we see a few details here out of verse six. Notice we see God responds. "I have covered this son, but in verse six, it is a response to the question of verse three." Really, this response is taking place all throughout the rest of the verses. And then second, we see that God installed the English standard in the King James, used the same word, the word set. This can be translated installed. Literally, this can mean pour or pour out as in pouring out oil and anointing a king or anointing a priest. It means to concentrate, consecrate or inaugurate.

The picture here is that God is solemnly inaugurating or anointing his Messiah as king. And then third, we see that God installed the king. Here we see that God is speaking of his son Jesus as the Messiah. He is the anointed one, the Messiah, the Messiah of God spoken of in verse two. He is installed in the holy mountain. And this refers to the capital city of Jerusalem, the city of David. This is the capital city of the nation of Israel, God's chosen people. Now we see a lot out of verse six. God responds to this rebellion, the rebellion of peoples and nations and kings on earth. He does so by installing his son as king.

He does not stop there. He places him on the holy mountain. He refers to the capital of the kingdom, this city of David Jerusalem. But remember, God is angry. Yes, God is angry. He is in his holy place as a righteous God. And this is a righteous anger. And I believe God is saying something like this. Now, how do you paraphrase how God feels? But I believe God is saying something like this. No matter the plans, no matter the purposes of the nations and peoples and kings, no matter the opposition to my rule, I have set my king in the capital city of Jerusalem. Now in summary, what do we see here?

God scoffs at the plan and purposes of the kings and peoples of the earth. They are no match for him, no match. In his pure anger, his pure and just anger, God says to them, I have installed my king in the capital city. He laughs with a holy laughter. He is seething with a righteous, righteous anger. And no matter what the nations do, no matter what they plot, no matter what they say, God's king reigns. Now in application, notice what we must see. This is a window into heaven. Yes, a window into eternity past. God has enabled us, remember I said earlier, he has cracked the door and he's allowed us to see it in the heaven.

God has enabled us to see this story, this beautiful window of the story of God's reaction to the rebellion of man. Now, here in application, I wanna give you some lessons. This is really an incomplete list. I just developed these as I was meditating over these verses. There are four lessons I want us to see. And you know if you added one or added one or two to the list, it wouldn't be bad. Maybe you do that. First of all, I want you to see that this is not some form of dualism. It's not some type of dualism. The nations and the kings and the nations do not have any power against God.

The enemy Satan is not fighting it out with God through the nations, no. God is all powerful, he is the most high God. He knew all along that the nations would rage and rebel. He knew that. So this isn't some type of dualism like the enemy Satan is fighting against God through the nations, no. God is all powerful. And then second, this is for judgment. This is for judgment. Christ Jesus will judge the nations and the peoples who are not his. Christ the Messiah will judge the nations. He is the king on the throne. And one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. And of course this applies to these peoples and nations and kings.

So Christ will judge the nations. And then third, this is all for the glory of God. God will get glory for judging the nations. Yes he will, he will get glory. And then fourth, there are no Christian nations. That might surprise some of you. There are no Christian nations. There are no Christian peoples. Listen, there are no Christian nations. There are no Christian peoples. A nation or a kingdom may be founded on biblical principles. But listen, that excludes us. And I'm sorry if that offends you, the United States is not a Christian nation. It might've been founded on biblical principles. We are not a second Israel.

Now they're Christian people, but the Christian people don't comprise a nation. A Christian people is the church. So what do we see? This isn't dualism. This isn't some duking it out between God and Satan. This is all for God's judgment and for the glory of God. And listen, there are nations that rage against him. There are peoples within these nations that serve him and love him. And they are the church. Now in conclusion, I really wanna be honest here. I really wanna conclude with the rest of the message. The rest of the verses, verse seven on down to verse 12, but we just don't have time.

So I want you to be patient with me and follow along as we get into part two next week. But I wanna conclude with the title of the message. I know I've given that. I gave it this morning. You've seen it on our Facebook page. But the title of the message is the world is coming to an end. Yes, the world is coming to an end. These peoples and these nations and these kings, they will meet their end. Now I know that sounds dark. It might sound fearful and it sounds rather ominous to some. But we must see that God will judge the nations, these very nations which rage against God during a worldwide pandemic like this. I want you to see this.

If you've paid attention to the news in our land, as government agencies have asked us to shut things down, you know we have social distancing and you know they've asked restaurants to close and schools to close. But one of the ways in which our nation has raged as those who have been denied the right to get an abortion, they have raged against God. You see what I mean? The very nations that rage against God during a worldwide pandemic that should bring them to a place of repentance. Listen, they will be judged. Instead of repenting to God, nations rage even more against God. And we see it all around. But you know, here's the positive side.

Brother Keith has pointed this out. Lots of times I'll give a message title and then I'll add to it or I'll change it. I'm bad about that. What's the title of the message? The world is coming to an end. The nations will be judged. Kings will be judged. But here's the second part. But we have a king. We have a king. Those of us who are in Christ Jesus, we have a king. And he sits on his throne. And see if you are born again Christian, this should encourage you. No matter what goes on in the world, no matter what the nations and peoples and kings are doing, we have a king and he is on the throne. Now as I conclude, I have to ask you a question.

Are you in Christ? Are you a born again believer? Can you look back in your life and see when God brought you to a place of repentance and faith and you trusted in Christ as best you knew how and it was a work of God. You didn't do it. You didn't work for it. It was a work of grace in your heart and life. Are you in Christ? Would you identify with Christ and proclaim that you are a born again believer and have you been walking with God during that time? Is that you? But see, if that's not you, you are a part of these peoples and nations and kings. And so what I wanna say to you is this.

Allow this time where many people are gripped by fear, asking questions. Allow God to use this time in a message like this to bring you to the place of faith in Christ. Think about a phrase that we sang earlier. Brother Keith led us in this song, the last song, this one phrase, Jesus to you we lift our eyes. See, what does that speak of? Knowing Christ. And so I wanna ask you, are you in Christ? Where do you fit? Where do you fit? And I will share this as we close. We make ourselves available. Brother Keith and I are available. We say this to our people all the time. That is the, the message is the invitation.

The words, the phrases, the word of God is the invitation. And we make ourselves available. If we need to meet with you at a city park, if we need to talk over the telephone, we make ourselves available to counsel with you and to lead you to a place and to help you see Christ. And so what I wanna say to you is this. Are you in Christ? And will you allow these times to bring you to true, genuine repentance and faith in Christ? Otherwise, otherwise, Jesus is not your king. And you are lumped up with the nations and the peoples and the kings, the rage against God. Use this time to see Kim while he may be found.