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Psalm 2 · Providence Baptist Church - Sermons

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Yes, you take your copy of God's Word and join me in Psalm chapter 2.
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Well, once again, we are going to take a breather from our study of Romans.
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! On Monday, you likely know an individual entered a private Christian school and killed three adults and three nine-year-olds.
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The whole matter is heartbreaking.
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The event itself and the ensuing coverage and politicizing of it.
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And it is a grand example of the moral insanity that Paul speaks of at the conclusion of Romans chapter 1.
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I don't want to belittle or minimize other mass shootings, even those that have occurred this year.
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But this one especially was felt by me.
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As I considered and prayed this week, my mind was continually drawn to Psalm 2.
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Now, I preached on Psalm 2 in January of 21.
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Some of you may remember some reasons why we might have considered Psalm 2 then.
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A clay preached on it in March of 22.
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And now we're going to look at it once again.
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Perhaps more than ever, we need its lessons for us.
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Could be that we're starting a bit of a tradition here.
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I've mentioned before that my work as a pastor for the first 12 years can be summarized in my working to answer three questions.
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I was asked to me one time, what do you want college students to know before they leave your church?
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And I wanted college students to have fully formed answers to three questions.
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Number one, what is the Bible?
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Number two, what is the gospel?
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And number three, what is the church?
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We thought we'd be doing a great work if we could send college students out from our church into the world with good answers to those three questions.
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In the last two years, I found that I need to add a fourth, an extremely important question to that list.
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I think that far too many professing Christians are being shaken in our time when they ought to be immovable.
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Beloved, I want us to be immovable, regardless of the circumstance of our day, from mass shootings and grand tragedy to the minutia of the circumstances we walk through each day.
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And we will not be immovable unless we can rightly answer the question, who is God?
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We will explore this question for all of this life and in the life to come, which is a thing to consider.
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But our God has told us much of himself and we do well to learn as much as we can.
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So let's look at Psalm 2 together this morning to do that very thing.
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Before we read Psalm 2, I want to remind you, beloved, that this is God's word to us written for his glory and for our good.
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And so we would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises and to obey its commands.
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Psalm 2, beginning in verse 1.
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Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
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The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying,
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Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.
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He who sits in the heavens laughs.
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The Lord holds them in derision.
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Then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury, saying,
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As for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.
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I will tell of the decree.
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The Lord said to me,
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You are my son.
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Today I have begotten you.
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Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession.
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You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
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Now, therefore, O kings, be wise.
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Be warned, O rulers of the earth.
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Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.
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Kiss the son, lest he be angry and you perish in the way.
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For his wrath is quickly kindled.
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Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
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As we consider the present state of the world in which we live, we see widespread and seemingly unbridled rebellion.
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All we have to do to see this rebellion locally is turn in to our favorite TV, radio or social media outlet.
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This is a rebellion that spans all cultural and political vantage points.
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What is the Christian meant to think of such things?
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How are we to bear up when everything seems to be falling apart around us?
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Psalm 2 speaks into our world concerning its rebellion and tells us that God is powerfully at work to end this world's rebellion.
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The uprising that began with Adam and Eve will not be allowed to persist forever.
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For those not in Christ, this is terrible news.
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For those found in Christ, Psalm 2 is a psalm of hope and encouragement.
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I often read to you a quotation off of your bulletin.
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Today I want to read to you one that's on the kids' coloring sheet.
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If you don't know, these exist.
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They're available for you too, adults.
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Susanna Spurgeon, the wife of Charles Spurgeon, once said,
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The soul that has learned the blessed secret of seeing God's hand in all that concerns it cannot be a prey to fear.
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It looks beyond all second causes straight into the heart and will of God and rests content because he rules.
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So I hope that Psalm 2 will be a psalm of hope and encouragement to you today.
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We will study the text briefly in the following outline.
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Number one, the world rebels.
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Number two, God the Father answers.
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Number three, God the Son declares.
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And number four, God the Spirit invites.
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Number one, the world rebels.
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Psalm 2 begins with a rhetorical question.
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I imagine the psalmist frustrated, shaking his head.
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It's the way I read it when we read it together.
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Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
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He has noticed that the world over, people have a rebellion problem.
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He continues in this disbelief.
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The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying,
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Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.
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Let us not believe that God does in fact reign and that his reign is a good reign.
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We want nothing to do with an authority over us.
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We want to be an authority.
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The nations, the peoples, the kings, and the rulers of the earth do not want to be placed under any type of authority.
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We have this problem, too.
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They want to be unbound to go their own way.
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And the psalmist tells us that all the people of the world are rebelling against the Lord and against his anointed.
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They do not want to be placed under the authority of whom?
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Of God and of Jesus Christ.
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The early church understood Jesus to be the anointed of Psalm 2.
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Listen to the response of the church to the news that Peter and John have been arrested and then released in Acts chapter 4.
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I'll begin reading in verse 24 and following.
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And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said,
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Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them,
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who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit,
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Why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples plot in vain?
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The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed.
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For truly in this city, they were gathered together against your holy servant, Jesus,
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whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel,
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to do whatever your hand and your plan had protested to take place.
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The early church saw this, that Christ was the anointed of Psalm 2.
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Rebellion against God and his Christ did not end with the persecution of the early church.
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Much of the New Testament is written to Christians who were suffering because the world was rebelling against God and his Christ.
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I find it quite fascinating to speak to believers who are older than me.
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They exist, praise God.
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So many so shocked that the world now has some pushback against their Christianity.
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This place in which we live.
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I would have never thought that the world would not be a follower of Christ.
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This has been the truth of the church throughout its history.
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Near the end of his reign, the Roman emperor Diocletian set up two massive pillars in Spain declaring victory over Jesus Christ.
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The inscription on the pillar reads,
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Diocletian, Hovian, Maximian, Hercules, Caesarius, Augusti.
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There was his title.
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For having adopted Gallerius in the East.
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For having everywhere abolished the superstition of Christ.
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For having extended the worship of the gods.
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Set up this monument to himself to congratulate himself for such a thing.
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This rebellion against God and his Christ continues to this day.
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We saw a clear example of it on Monday.
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We can witness it all around us in many forms.
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And we should make no mistake that it is a rebellion against God and his Christ.
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We may experience it.
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But it is ultimately a rebellion against the Lord and his anointed.
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As God's people, it is reasonable that we will be seen as enemies of those rebelling against the one we follow.
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The early church expected to suffer for the name of Christ and rejoiced when the suffering came.
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What a difficult emotion to feel.
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Expected it and rejoiced in it.
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Let me show you an example from Acts chapter 5 verse 40 and following.
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When they, the council, had called in the apostles.
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They beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go.
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Then they, the apostles, left the presence of the council rejoicing.
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They were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.
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And every day in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.
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So the world rebels.
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It always has and it will until Christ returns and makes all things new.
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But we find in the psalm that God, the father, answers this rebellion.
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The rebellion does not go unanswered.
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And he answers the rebellion of the world with laughter.
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Verse 4 says, he who sits in the heavens laughs.
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The Lord holds them in derision or think mockery.
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Right?
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The world and everything in it belongs to God.
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Right?
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He reigns over it absolutely regardless if somebody wants to rebel against him.
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Psalm 24 verse 1 and 2 says,
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The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.
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For he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.
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Right?
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He made it.
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It is his.
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Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 15.
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Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket and are accounted as the dust on the scales.
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Behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.
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God reigns over all things and all peoples with absolute sovereignty to the degree that he finds the rebellion of the world laughable and mockable.
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Do you find yourself troubled at the rebellion of the world?
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If you belong to God, you need to know this morning that God finds the world's rebellion laughable.
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That isn't to say that he thinks lightly of the wickedness of humanity.
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But the idea that humanity can set aside God's rule is what he finds laughable.
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The rebellious think that they can escape the authority of God.
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But he reigns with absolute authority.
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Nothing has ever or will ever escape his grasp or his control.
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In fact, he orders all things, even tragic things, according to his will.
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So God the Father answers the rebellion of the world with laughter, but also with speech.
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This is how we know that he doesn't take wickedness lightly.
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Verse 5 says, then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury, saying,
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As for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.
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Note that after God laughs, he speaks and what he says should receive our highest attention as he says it furiously.
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What does he say?
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In the text, verse 6, as for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.
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God says that he has anointed King Jesus to reign.
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When you think of Jesus, where do you most regularly place him in your mind?
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Is he the humble servant, the suffering Savior, or the reigning king?
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He is all of these at all times.
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And an awareness of his person, his complete person, and his accomplished work will enable you in the day of trouble
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to also laugh at the rebellion of the world because you know that King Jesus reigns.
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God has not been silent against the rebellion of the world.
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He laughs and he speaks and he says, Jesus is the Christ and he reigns.
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And so we see thirdly in our text that God the Son declares.
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Now here the voice of the psalm changes.
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And it's this point that Jesus Christ is speaking.
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And he declares three things that God the Father has said of him.
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Verse 7.
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Number 1.
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Christ's identity.
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I will tell, Jesus says, I will tell of the decree the Lord said to me,
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you are my son.
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Today I have begotten you.
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Christ's identity as the Son of God resurrected.
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And I'm going to show you why that's the case.
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What does it mean that Jesus is begotten?
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It is important to note that that is not the same word translated in John 3.16 as only begotten.
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That's for another morning.
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Psalm 2.7 is cited three times in the New Testament,
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which is very helpful to us understanding what this word means, begotten.
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So let me give you these three.
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First, Hebrews chapter 1, verses 3 through 5.
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Keep in mind, we're talking about Christ's identity.
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He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.
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And he upholds the universe by the word of his power.
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After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.
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Having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
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For to which of the angels did God ever say?
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And here we are in Psalm 2.
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You are my son.
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Today I have begotten you.
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Or again, I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son.
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Okay, so here we see this idea of him being gotten, tied to him making purification for sins,
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and then sitting down at the right hand of the majesty on high in his session where he reigns right now.
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Hebrews 5, 5.
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So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him,
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you are my son.
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Today I have begotten you.
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Right?
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So Christ, after his death, burial, and resurrection, is exalted and made a high priest over the church.
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And here again we see the citation from Psalm 2.
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I keep trying to say Acts 2 and my mind goes, no, stop it, dummy.
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Psalm 2.
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You are my son.
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Today I have begotten you.
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And then most clearly in Acts chapter 13, verse 30 and following, Paul here is speaking in the synagogue at Antioch,
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and he says,
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But God raised him from the dead.
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And for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem,
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who are now his witnesses to the people.
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And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers,
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this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus,
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as also it is written in the second Psalm,
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You are my son.
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Today I have begotten you.
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And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption,
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he has spoken in this way,
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I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.
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Notice that in each of these texts,
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the resurrection of Christ is either explicit in the case of Acts chapter 13,
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or implicit in the cases of Hebrews 1, 3 through 5 and 5, 5.
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So begotten, in this case, in Psalm 2,
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by way of sparing you further details,
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means to bring forth.
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It's a literal translation of it.
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It means to bring forth,
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and it refers to the bringing forth of Jesus from the grave.
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It refers to his resurrection.
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When Jesus declares his identity in Psalm chapter 2 and verse 7,
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the Lord said to me,
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You are my son.
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Today I have begotten you.
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He is speaking to the future reality of his resurrected life.
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The fact that he is the Christ,
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that the church will be built on that foundation,
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and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
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And therefore, his sacrificial death,
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and all that it has accomplished.
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He also tells us something of his destiny.
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Verse 8 says,
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Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
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and the ends of the earth your possession.
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God has promised to give Jesus Christ every corner of the creation,
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and all the peoples of it to rule over it forever.
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Some cross references for this.
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Philippians chapter 2, verse 8 through 11.
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And being found in human form,
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Christ humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,
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even death on a cross.
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Therefore God has highly exalted him,
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and bestowed on him the name that is above every name.
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So that the name of Jesus,
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every knee should bow in heaven and on earth,
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and under the earth,
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and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
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to the glory of God the Father.
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The reigning and the praise of the peoples.
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Now join me, if you will, in Philippians chapter 2.
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I want you to look at the text that immediately follows
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verses 8 through 11.
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At the beginning of verse 12 of Philippians 2,
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Paul says,
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Therefore, my beloved.
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So in light of the exaltation of Jesus Christ,
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I want you to look for the responses we should have to that reality.
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Paul says,
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Therefore, my beloved,
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as you have always obeyed,
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so now, not only as in my presence,
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but much more in my absence,
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work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
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For it is God who works in you,
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both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
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Do all things without grumbling or disputing,
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that you may be blameless and innocent,
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children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation,
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among whom you shine as lights in the world,
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holding fast to the word of life,
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so that in the day of Christ,
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I may be proud that it did not run in vain or labor in vain.
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Even if I am being poured out as a drink offering
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upon the sacrificial offering of your faith,
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I am glad and rejoice with you all.
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Likewise, you also should be glad and rejoice with me.
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Notice that our response to Jesus' forever reign
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should be good works.
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verse 12,
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accompanied by good attitudes,
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verse 14,
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general holiness,
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that we should read, know, and treasure God's word,
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verse 16,
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and that we should be found happy and rejoicing,
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verse 18.
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Is this the characteristic response of us
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to the trouble that we find all around us
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in our day?
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I hope that it is.
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I wrestle to this end.
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As you contemplate
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the troubled age in which we live,
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does the reign of Jesus Christ
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affect you,
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inform the way you respond
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in this way,
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Philippians chapter 2,
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verse 12 and following?
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It should.
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It should.
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Let's look lastly here at Christ's authority.
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Verse 9 says,
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this is back in Psalm 2,
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you shall break them with a rod of iron
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and dash them in pieces
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like a potter's vessel.
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God has given to Jesus,
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has anointed the authority
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and the power to judge the nations
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for their rebellion.
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Right?
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Think an effortless task,
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right?
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It's not difficult to break a pot
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with a rod of iron.
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And we spoke of God's judgment
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last week
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at greater length
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and in the future
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we'll look at it once again
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in Romans chapter 2.
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But I want you to note
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that before the final judgment comes,
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Jesus is calling all men
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everywhere
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to repent.
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Ephesians chapter 2
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and verse 17,
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Paul says,
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and Jesus came
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and preached peace to you
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who were far off
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and peace to those
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who were near.
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Right?
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Rebels.
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Those held in laughable,
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mockable state.
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Christ has come
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and preached peace to us
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that we might by faith in him
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have peace with God.
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Those who do not repent
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and believe in the personal work
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of Jesus Christ
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are going to face
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a frightful final judgment.
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Hear just a little bit of that
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from Revelation chapter 19.
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This is verse 11 through 15.
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John writes,
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Then I saw heaven opened
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and behold a white horse.
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The one sitting on it
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is called Faithful and True.
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And in righteousness
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he judges and makes war.
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His eyes are like a flame of fire
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and on his head
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are many diadems
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and he has a name written
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that no one knows
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but himself.
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He is clothed
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in a robe
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dipped in blood
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and the name by which
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he is called
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is the Word of God.
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And the armies of heaven
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arrayed in fine linen
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white and pure
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were following him
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on white horses.
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From his mouth
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comes a sharp sword
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with which to strike
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down the nations
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and he will rule them
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with a rod
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of iron.
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Hear that language
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picked up from Psalm 2.
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He will tread
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the winepress
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of the fury
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of the wrath
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of God
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the Almighty.
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Jesus will come
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and he
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will judge
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and he declares this
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as God says
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over him
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in verse 9
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of Psalm 2
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that he has the authority
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to do so.
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But in the meantime
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he came
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and he preached peace
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and he charged others
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to preach that peace
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and we see
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a beautiful summary
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at the end
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of Psalm 2
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which I've given us
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the title of
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God the Spirit
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invites.
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Now the text
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does not expressly
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state that this is
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the Spirit of God
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speaking
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but we know
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that the Scriptures
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are inspired
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and that people
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come to repent
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and believe
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through the efficacious
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work of God
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the Spirit.
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And so I think
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it is fair
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it's also
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nice and tidy
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to see
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our triune God
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in this text.
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God the Spirit
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invites.
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Now therefore
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O kings
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be wise
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be warned
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O rulers
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of the earth
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serve the Lord
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with fear
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and rejoice
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with trembling
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kiss the sun
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give your devotion
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to him
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lest he be angry
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and you perish
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in the way
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for his wrath
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is quickly kindled
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blessed are all
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who take refuge
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in him.
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The very one
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the authority
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to come
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and to reign
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and judge
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is the one
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in whom
28:15
we hide ourselves
28:16
from that very wrath.
28:18
because of the coming
28:20
judgment of Christ
28:21
God the Spirit
28:22
calls all people
28:24
everywhere
28:24
to put down
28:25
their rebellion
28:26
and take refuge
28:27
in Christ
28:29
recognizing
28:30
that he reigns.
28:32
So be wise
28:34
be warned
28:35
if you have not
28:36
repented
28:36
and believed
28:37
in Christ
28:38
do so today
28:40
kiss the sun
28:42
swear your allegiance
28:43
to him
28:43
because I do not
28:45
we do not
28:47
want you to perish
28:49
when his wrath
28:50
comes.
28:53
And so we see
28:54
in Psalm 2
28:55
the world rebels
28:56
God the Father
28:58
answers
28:58
God the Son
28:59
declares
29:00
and God the Spirit
29:01
invites.
29:04
God the Father
29:05
will not tolerate
29:05
the rebellion
29:06
of the world
29:06
forever.
29:08
One day
29:08
God the Son
29:09
will return
29:10
and judge the nations
29:11
but in the meantime
29:12
they are working
29:13
mercifully by God
29:15
the Spirit
29:15
to call people
29:16
to be saved
29:16
and to enter
29:18
into everlasting
29:18
comfort and joy
29:20
and peace.
29:22
If you have not
29:23
already done so
29:24
repent and believe
29:25
in the finished work
29:26
of the Lord
29:27
Jesus Christ.
29:29
If you are
29:30
in Christ
29:30
beloved
29:31
the reality
29:33
of who our God
29:34
is
29:34
as we answer
29:35
that question
29:36
who is God
29:37
it should make
29:39
you
29:39
immovable
29:40
despite the
29:42
circumstances
29:43
of our day
29:43
because our
29:44
God
29:45
is immovable.
29:47
Let's pray together.