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Voddie Baucham - The Politically Incorrect Guide To God's War On The Wicked · Voddie Baucham Sermons

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: You have your Bibles with you. Open them to Psalm
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: number 2. Psalm 2. I'm going to look at this.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: war between God and the nations, this war between God
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: and sinful men. The psalmist writes, why do the nations
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: rage and the prophets or the peoples plot in vain?
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers
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  Speaker 1: take counsel together. against the Lord and against his anointed one, saying,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: cords from us. He who sits in the heavens laughs.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: The Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury, saying,
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: as for me, I have set my king on Zion,
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  Speaker 1: my holy hill. I will tell of the decree. The
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  Speaker 1: Lord said to me, you are my son, today I
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  Speaker 1: have begotten you. Ask of me and I will make
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  Speaker 1: the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth
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  Speaker 1: your possession. You shall break them with a rod of
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  Speaker 1: iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
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  Speaker 1: Now therefore, O kings, be wise. Be warned, O rulers
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  Speaker 1: of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice
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  Speaker 1: with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and
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  Speaker 1: you perish in the way. For his wrath is quickly kindled.
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  Speaker 1: Blessed are those who take refuge in him. This is
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  Speaker 1: a beautiful psalm. There are four stanzas of three verses each.
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  Speaker 1: It's incredibly symmetrical. And there is a progression here that
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  Speaker 1: is very clear. The question is, what does this Old
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Testament text, what does this psalm from the songbook of
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Israel have to do with a militant and triumphant church? Well,
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  Speaker 1: I'm glad you asked. In order to answer this question,
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  Speaker 1: we need to remember something that we looked at on
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  Speaker 1: last night. We talked about Peter's words in 1 Peter 2,
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  Speaker 1: but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a
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  Speaker 1: holy nation, a people for his own possession that you
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  Speaker 1: may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out
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  Speaker 1: of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not
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  Speaker 1: a people but now you are God's people. Once you
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  Speaker 1: had not received mercy but now you have received mercy.
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  Speaker 1: That is who we are and it's significant to keep
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  Speaker 1: in mind that That that's who we are in order
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  Speaker 1: to understand the significance of this psalm as it relates
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  Speaker 1: to us as the church. We are the people of God.
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  Speaker 1: We are a chosen race and a royal priesthood and
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  Speaker 1: a holy nation. We are a people for God's own possession.
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  Speaker 1: And it's because that's who we are that this relates
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  Speaker 1: to us. When the nations rage against God, it's not
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  Speaker 1: as though they can ascend his holy hill and fight
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  Speaker 1: with him. When the nations rage against God, it's not
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  Speaker 1: as though they can lay hold of him. The old
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  Speaker 1: folks used to say, your arms are too short to
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  Speaker 1: box with God. How do the nations rage? Fight God.
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  Speaker 1: The answer is they can't fight God per se, so
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  Speaker 1: what they do is they fight God's people. They go
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  Speaker 1: to war with the church. If you are at war
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  Speaker 1: with God, who is a spirit and doesn't have a
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  Speaker 1: body like man, And all the catechized children said, amen.
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  Speaker 1: Then what do you do? You go to war with
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  Speaker 1: those who represent him. You go to war with those
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  Speaker 1: who speak his words. You go to war with those
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  Speaker 1: who bear the marks of identifying with him. And we
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  Speaker 1: see this, do we not? We see this war spiritually
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  Speaker 1: and ideologically. We see it even in our own surroundings.
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  Speaker 1: And when I talk about this, I'm not talking about
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  Speaker 1: in atheistic nations that were at war with the idea
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  Speaker 1: of Christianity. That's not what I mean. I don't mean
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  Speaker 1: in Islamic nations that are obviously at war with the
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  Speaker 1: idea of Christianity or Hindu nations or Buddhist nations. I'm
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  Speaker 1: talking about in the Christian West. We're seeing this war
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  Speaker 1: beginning to rage. As the biblical understanding of manhood and
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  Speaker 1: womanhood and human sexuality is referred to in legislation as mythology.
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  Speaker 1: We are at war. Our mission is also a direct
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  Speaker 1: affront to man's quest for independence. And his own sovereignty.
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  Speaker 1: What is our mission? Jesus gave it to us. He says,
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  Speaker 1: all authority in heaven and on earth has been given
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  Speaker 1: to me. There's problem number one. Man is seeking after
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  Speaker 1: authority and there's none to be found because it all
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  Speaker 1: belongs to Christ. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,
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  Speaker 1: baptizing them in the name of the Father and the
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  Speaker 1: Son and of the Holy Spirit. teaching them to observe
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  Speaker 1: all that I've commanded you. And behold, I am with
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  Speaker 1: you always, even to the end of the age. He
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  Speaker 1: doesn't just say, go and baptize people and bring people
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  Speaker 1: into the church where they do church things and leave
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  Speaker 1: it there. No, he says, go and baptize them in
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  Speaker 1: the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit,
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  Speaker 1: and then teach them to observe. Teach who? The nations.
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  Speaker 1: Teach them that they don't get to call their own shots.
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  Speaker 1: Teach them that there is a God in Zion and
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  Speaker 1: that they have an obligation to bow before him and
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  Speaker 1: to obey him. And when we do that, it's clear
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  Speaker 1: to see why Psalm 2 would be relevant. to a
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  Speaker 1: militant and triumphant church. Let's look at these four movements
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  Speaker 1: in the Psalm. Again, each of them, three verses, this
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  Speaker 1: perfect symmetry. In the first three verses, we see that
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  Speaker 1: sinful man is at war with God. Sinful man is
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  Speaker 1: at war with God. And if you don't believe this,
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  Speaker 1: you are incredibly naive. if you think that sinful man
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  Speaker 1: can just coexist with God, if you think that sinful
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  Speaker 1: man can just wink and nod and watch God's people
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  Speaker 1: go and do and be who they are and proclaim
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  Speaker 1: the gospel and win and gain ground and be okay
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  Speaker 1: with it, you are sorely mistaken. Look at those first
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  Speaker 1: three verses again. Why do the nations rage and the
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  Speaker 1: peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set
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  Speaker 1: themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord
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  Speaker 1: and against his anointed saying, let us burst their bonds
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  Speaker 1: apart and cast away their cords from us. We don't
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  Speaker 1: want them to control us. It's like a child looking
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  Speaker 1: up defiantly and saying, you're not the boss of me.
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  Speaker 1: Nations rage, peoples plot, kings set themselves, rulers take counsel together.
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  Speaker 1: There is a sense in which the whole world, and yes,
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  Speaker 1: it is the whole world, the whole world outside of
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  Speaker 1: this people of God, is at war with God. Notice
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  Speaker 1: the word picture here. There's a picture of the peoples
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  Speaker 1: of the world assembling against God, amassing their armies, if
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  Speaker 1: you will, against God, preparing all the firepower they have
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  Speaker 1: to go to war against God and actually believing that
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  Speaker 1: if enough of them amass that they can stamp him
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  Speaker 1: out This would have been significant for the nation of
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  Speaker 1: Israel as they thought about that tiny strip of land
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  Speaker 1: that has been fought over for generation after generation after generation.
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  Speaker 1: Fighting with the Philistines and the Assyrians and the Babylonians
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  Speaker 1: and Again and again and again, nations amassing against the
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  Speaker 1: people of God. In this case, however, the armies are
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  Speaker 1: finite men coming to fight against God himself. This is
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  Speaker 1: a fool's errand. Because it's not possible to win. Their
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  Speaker 1: armies have no chance. Nevertheless, they amass for war. We
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  Speaker 1: see it all the time, don't we? You look at
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  Speaker 1: people's lives and sometimes I look at people's lives and
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  Speaker 1: I watch them war with God. And you just want
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  Speaker 1: to look at him and say, stay down, man. But why?
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  Speaker 1: Why does sinful man insist on warring with God? As
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  Speaker 1: crazy as that sounds. John gives us a glimpse in
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  Speaker 1: John 3, 19. This is the judgment. The light has
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  Speaker 1: come into the world and people love darkness rather than
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  Speaker 1: light because their deeds were evil. They can't help it.
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  Speaker 1: They love darkness. And they're infuriated by light. By anything
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  Speaker 1: that exposes their darkness. And they're enemies of God. Ephesians
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  Speaker 1: chapter 2, verses 1 through 3, we know these verses,
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  Speaker 1: don't we? And you were dead in your trespasses and
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  Speaker 1: sins in which you once walked, following the course of
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  Speaker 1: this world, following the prince of the power of the air,
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  Speaker 1: the spirit that is now at work in the sons
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  Speaker 1: of disobedience, among whom we once lived in the passions
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  Speaker 1: of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body
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  Speaker 1: and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath
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  Speaker 1: like the rest of mankind. Enemies of God, children of wrath,
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  Speaker 1: who love the darkness and hate the light. And therefore,
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  Speaker 1: all we can do is continue to go to war
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  Speaker 1: with God. It's kind of like the classic story about
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  Speaker 1: the frog and the scorpion. Y'all know this story. Scorpion's
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  Speaker 1: trying to get across the river and he needs some help.
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  Speaker 1: He talks to the frog and says, man, why don't
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  Speaker 1: you give me a ride? The frog says, I'm not
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  Speaker 1: going to do that. You'll sting me and kill us both.
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  Speaker 1: He said, no, I won't do that. I got to
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  Speaker 1: get to the other side. Just give a brother a ride.
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  Speaker 1: I promise. I promise. Halfway across, the frog feels the
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  Speaker 1: sting in his back. And before he succumbs and sinks,
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  Speaker 1: he looks up to the scorpion and says, but why?
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  Speaker 1: To which the scorpion responds, it's just my nature. That's
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  Speaker 1: fallen man. It's just his nature to be at war
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  Speaker 1: with God. And it will always be his nature until
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  Speaker 1: the bitter end. Revelation 16, 13 to 16. And I
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  Speaker 1: saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and
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  Speaker 1: out of the mouth of the beast and out of
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  Speaker 1: the mouth of the false prophet three unclean spirits like frogs.
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  Speaker 1: Speaking of frogs. For they are demonic spirits performing signs
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  Speaker 1: who go abroad to the kings of the whole world
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  Speaker 1: to assemble them for battle on the great day of
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  Speaker 1: God the Almighty. Behold, I'm coming like a thief. Blessed
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  Speaker 1: is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on,
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  Speaker 1: that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed.
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  Speaker 1: And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew
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  Speaker 1: is called Armageddon. Sinful men go to war with God
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  Speaker 1: to the bitter end because it is in their very
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  Speaker 1: nature to do so. But not only was this relevant
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  Speaker 1: to the nation of Israel, not only was this psalm
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  Speaker 1: a hymn that Israel could sing and relate to, but
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  Speaker 1: we know from the New Testament writers that Israel didn't
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  Speaker 1: even have the full picture of We didn't fully understand
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  Speaker 1: Psalm 2 until the coming of Christ. Listen to Acts
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  Speaker 1: chapter 4, beginning of verse 26. The kings of the
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  Speaker 1: earth set themselves and rulers gathered together against the Lord
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  Speaker 1: and against his anointed. Again, quoting this psalm. For truly
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  Speaker 1: in this city they were gathered together against your holy
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  Speaker 1: servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate,
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  Speaker 1: along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel. to
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  Speaker 1: do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to
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  Speaker 1: take place. It's not the only place. Where we see
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  Speaker 1: the New Testament writers pointing to the fact that Psalm
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  Speaker 1: 2 is about the Lord Jesus Christ, that ultimately in
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  Speaker 1: this war, It is a war against God. It is
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  Speaker 1: a war against Christ. And it is a war against
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  Speaker 1: the body of Christ. Not only is that first movement pertinent,
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  Speaker 1: this war between sinful man and God, but the second
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  Speaker 1: movement in this hymn is incredibly important as well. Because
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  Speaker 1: God responds, but not the way you would think. You
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  Speaker 1: imagine the picture of massive armies amassing for war. What's
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  Speaker 1: the response supposed to look like? Imagine it on a
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  Speaker 1: personal level. Two opponents face off. And one puts up
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  Speaker 1: his hands. What is the other going to do? Put
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  Speaker 1: up his hands. Yeah, normally. Not here. He who sits
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  Speaker 1: in the heavens laughs. The Lord holds them in derision.
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  Speaker 1: Then he will speak to them in his wrath and
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  Speaker 1: terrify them in his fury saying. Now, please don't miss this. Okay.
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  Speaker 1: We start with the Lord laughing. which again is pretty terrifying.
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  Speaker 1: I bring my armies and I'm ready to go to war.
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  Speaker 1: I've got a huge army amassed and I'm ready to
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  Speaker 1: go to war. You ready to fight? Why are you laughing?
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  Speaker 1: But then notice the second part. Then he will speak
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  Speaker 1: to them in his wrath and terrify them. in his fury, saying, again,
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  Speaker 1: what's the terrifying thing that God says to sinful man
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  Speaker 1: in his wrath? He says, I've set my king on Zion,
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  Speaker 1: my holy hill. There it is. That's the terrifying thing.
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  Speaker 1: We bring massive armies. We bring everything that man can
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  Speaker 1: think or imagine or invent to bring. And we come
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  Speaker 1: to fight with God and he laughs and says, my
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  Speaker 1: kings and Zions, And that's it. And it's terrifying. God
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  Speaker 1: is not threatened by the armies of men. He laughs
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  Speaker 1: at them. Psalm 37, 13. But the Lord laughs at
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  Speaker 1: the wicked for he sees that his day is coming.
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  Speaker 1: Psalm 59, 8. But you, O Lord, laugh at them.
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  Speaker 1: You hold all the nations in derision. All of them
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  Speaker 1: Rebellion against God is folly because men will ultimately obey
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  Speaker 1: God either willingly or unwillingly. There is no winning this war,
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  Speaker 1: which is why God laughs and holds them in derision.
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  Speaker 1: God is not threatened by sinful men. Psalm 46.10, be
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  Speaker 1: still and know that I am God. I will be
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  Speaker 1: exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth.
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  Speaker 1: He will be. It is not optional. There is no question.
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  Speaker 1: This thing is not in doubt. Philippians 2, 9 and 10.
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  Speaker 1: Speaking of Jesus, therefore God has highly exalted him and
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  Speaker 1: bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
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  Speaker 1: So that at the name of Jesus, every knee shall
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  Speaker 1: bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth.
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  Speaker 1: And every tongue confess that he is Lord to the
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  Speaker 1: glory of God the Father. Every knee, every tongue, it's
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  Speaker 1: not in doubt. And yet it doesn't matter how loudly
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  Speaker 1: we proclaim this and how consistently we proclaim this. Sinful
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  Speaker 1: man believes that he can win. And God laughs. And
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  Speaker 1: God holds him in derision. And all of this is accomplished.
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  Speaker 1: And all of this will be accomplished by his king
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  Speaker 1: who is on Zion. The contrast is stark. Not only
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  Speaker 1: the visual contrast. the armies of the nations of the
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  Speaker 1: world gathering against God. That's the picture. Coming to his
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  Speaker 1: holy hill and God saying, you'll fight my king and
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  Speaker 1: just him. And it's not that the king is somehow
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  Speaker 1: going to you know, deploy some weapon that destroys all
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  Speaker 1: of these armies in a physical sense. That's not the
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  Speaker 1: picture because this battle is a spiritual battle. But the
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  Speaker 1: way that the king on Zion wins the war is
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  Speaker 1: ironic as the idea of God laughing and holding them
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  Speaker 1: in derision. Colossians 2, 13 to 15. And you who
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  Speaker 1: were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh,
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  Speaker 1: God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all
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  Speaker 1: our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood
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  Speaker 1: against us with its legal demands. This he set aside,
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  Speaker 1: nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and
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  Speaker 1: authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over
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  Speaker 1: them in him. It is the cross. That's how the
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  Speaker 1: king wins this battle on Zion. It is through the cross.
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  Speaker 1: Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1.18, for the word of
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  Speaker 1: the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but
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  Speaker 1: to us who are being saved, it is the power
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  Speaker 1: of God. It makes no sense at all. We come
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  Speaker 1: to you to go to war with you, and you
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  Speaker 1: win the war with us by your king dying on
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  Speaker 1: your hill? That's exactly right. Verse 20 of that same chapter,
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  Speaker 1: where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe?
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  Speaker 1: Where is the debater of this age? Has not God
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  Speaker 1: made foolish the wisdom of the world? As I said,
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  Speaker 1: it's a fool's errand going to war with God. Not
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  Speaker 1: only is it a fool's errand because you cannot defeat God,
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  Speaker 1: but it's a fool's errand because here you are going
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  Speaker 1: to war with the one who is actually your only hope.
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  Speaker 1: Reminds me of Genesis 3. After the fall, when God comes, says, Adam,
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  Speaker 1: where are you? And Adam responds with the most ridiculous
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  Speaker 1: answer imaginable. I heard you coming, so I ran and hid.
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  Speaker 1: Which immediately raises the question, Where does one run and
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  Speaker 1: hide from God? It's not only foolish because you can't
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  Speaker 1: hide from God, but it's foolish because at that moment
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  Speaker 1: after you've eaten, you have one hope and one hope only,
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  Speaker 1: and that is that God would be merciful to you.
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  Speaker 1: So you're actually running and hiding from the only one
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  Speaker 1: who can save you. And in this instance, in Psalm 2,
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  Speaker 1: the nations are actually amassing and going to war with
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  Speaker 1: the one who is their only hope. Again, it's a
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  Speaker 1: fool's errand. But it's appropriate because sinful man is a fool.
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  Speaker 1: We need to be mindful of this because our tendency,
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  Speaker 1: when we see the armies amassed against the church, because
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  Speaker 1: that's the way that the world goes to war with God,
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  Speaker 1: our knee-jerk reaction is to say, well, we just need
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  Speaker 1: to get a bigger army than they have. How many
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  Speaker 1: times have we said this, right? Right? Something goes awry
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  Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, you know, the world is
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  Speaker 1: against us and it seems like we're losing ground. It
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  Speaker 1: seems like they've been successful. And we say something like, well, see,
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  Speaker 1: they know how to organize for their cause if we
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  Speaker 1: just organized as well as they do. If you can't
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  Speaker 1: say amen, you ought to say ouch. If we could
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  Speaker 1: just scheme like them, then we could rule the day
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  Speaker 1: and we would have the big army and they would
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  Speaker 1: have to bow to us. Wrong answer. Our answer is
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  Speaker 1: the king who's on Zion's hill. That's our answer. That's
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  Speaker 1: always been our answer and it will always be our answer.
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  Speaker 1: The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. But they're powerful.
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  Speaker 1: They destroy fortresses. Why would we trade them in? Again,
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  Speaker 1: the weapons of their warfare cannot be successful against our
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  Speaker 1: God and against God. His anointed one. So why, when
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  Speaker 1: we think the battle is not going well for us,
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  Speaker 1: why instead of us saying that our God is in
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  Speaker 1: control and whatever comes to pass, does not threaten him,
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  Speaker 1: why do we then say, well, maybe we should pick
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  Speaker 1: up their weapons and fight like them? We only say
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  Speaker 1: that because we don't understand the third movement in the psalm.
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  Speaker 1: And that is this, the reason that God smiles. and
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  Speaker 1: holds them in derision is because the outcome was never
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  Speaker 1: in doubt. The outcome was never in doubt. It's not
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  Speaker 1: the church militant and hopefully triumphant. Amen? It's not the
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: church militant and Lord willing triumphant. No, we will triumph.
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  Speaker 1: In verse 7, the king who's been identified on Zion speaks.
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  Speaker 1: I will tell of the decree. The Lord said to me,
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  Speaker 1: you are my son. Today I have begotten you. Ask
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  Speaker 1: of me and I will make the nations your heritage
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  Speaker 1: and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: break them with a rod of iron and dash them
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  Speaker 1: in pieces like a potter's vessel. There's the frightening word.
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  Speaker 1: The reference here is again a reference to Christ. Don't
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: take my word for it. Hebrews chapter 1 verses 3
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  Speaker 1: through 5. He is the radiance of the glory of
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: God and the exact imprint of his nature. And he
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: upholds the universe by the word of his power. After
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: making purifications for sins, he sat down at the right
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: hand of the majesty on high. Having become as much
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: superior to angels as the name he has inherited is
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  Speaker 1: more excellent than theirs. For to which of the angels
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: did God ever say, you are my son, today I
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: have begotten you. Or again, I will be to him
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: a father and he shall be to me a son.
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  Speaker 1: In other words, according to the author of Hebrews as well,
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: Psalm 2 is about Jesus. It finds its ultimate fulfillment
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  Speaker 1: in the person and work of Christ. Jesus presented himself
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: as the Messiah, the Son of God. The nations are
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: his birthright. They are his inheritance. And we are the
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: means through which he claims this inheritance. As we preach
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: the gospel. And men are saved. As they're snatched out
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: of the kingdom of darkness. And brought into the kingdom
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: of light. Imagine, again, here's the picture. The picture is
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: that the armies of the world are amassed against God
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: and against his anointed. And here's the king on his
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: holy hill. And here's this massive army. And as the
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: gospel is preached by the people of God, people lay
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: down their weapons, leave their post, and run to the king.
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  Speaker 1: On this hill. That's how we fight. That's how we fight.
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  Speaker 1: That's the picture. And let me just pause and say this.
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  Speaker 1: This is what gives us confidence in evangelism and missions. Amen?
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  Speaker 1: This is what gives us confidence because there's never a
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: question and the outcome is never in doubt. God will
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: have his victory. Christ will have the fullness of the
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: reward for which he died. We can know that. We
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: can rest assured and we can preach the gospel in faith,
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: knowing that God will save his people through the foolishness
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: of our preaching. And so we preach the gospel and
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: press the claims of Christ in a hostile world. But
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: we also remind men of the judgment that is to come.
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  Speaker 1: That is just as much our duty That's what we
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: do as the church militant. We preach the truth, the
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And part of
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: that truth is warning men of the coming judgment. Revelation 2, 27.
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: He will rule them with a rod of iron as
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: myself have received authority from my father Revelation 12, 5.
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  Speaker 1: She gave birth to a male child, one who was
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: to rule all the nations with a rod of iron.
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: But her child was caught up to God and to
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: his throne. Revelation 19, 15. From his mouth comes a
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: he will rule them with a rod of iron. He
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: of God Almighty. We warn men of the judgment to come.
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: And that leaves us with the final movement. And the
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: final movement is this. Sinful man has only one hope.
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: And that is repentance. That's it. His repentance. He can't
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: win the war with God. His war with God will
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: end in him being smashed by a rod of iron.
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: The nations that rage against God will bow before God
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: and will be ruled by God. So they have no
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: hope of victory. Their only hope is repentance. Verses 10
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: through 12, that last movement. Now, therefore... Because what we've
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: seen here, sinful man's going to war with God. God
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: laughs because the outcome is never in doubt. Therefore, O kings,
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: be wise. Be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. What a
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: turn of phrase. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: with trembling. What a beautiful picture. Our God is awesome
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: and terrible. And yet we rejoice in him. I love
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: the way C.S. Lewis captures this in the Narnia series.
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: Speaking of Aslan, he's not a tame lion, but he's good.
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: the Son. lest he be angry and you perish in
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: the way for his wrath is quickly kindled blessed are
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: those who take refuge in him we begin in the
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: exact opposite place, or we end in the exact opposite
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: place from where we began. We begin with the nations
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  Speaker 1: raging and trying to break themselves free from his bonds.
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: And we end with, blessed are those who take refuge
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: in him. There's only two choices. We can amass ourselves
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: with the armies that are at war with God or
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: we can take refuge in the king on his holy hill. Folks,
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: if God did not spare his beloved Israel, but instead
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: allowed them to be defeated in battle and carried off
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: into exile, then we know his enemies will face sure
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: and swift and unimaginable judgment. And yet, he calls them
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: to repentance. Repentance. When you and I came to faith
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: in Christ, this wasn't the picture. It wasn't sinful man
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: and the enemies of God arrayed against God, ready to
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: go to war with him. And here is God and
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: his anointed. Here is his king on Zion on that
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: holy hill. And before the war breaks out, he says, wait, stop.
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: There's someone who's neutral. No. You weren't neutral in this
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: battle before you came to faith in Christ. You were
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: driving a tank of going to take the hill. When
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: the power of the gospel reached in and rescued you.
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: Listen to this from Kidner. The final beatitude leaves no
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: doubt of the grace that inspires the call of verses
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: 10 and following. What fear and pride interpret as bondage
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: there in verse 3 is in fact security and bliss.
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: And there is no refuge from him. Only in him.
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: How many of us resisted coming to Christ because we
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: believed that we would be robbed of something? That he
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: wanted to take joy away from us. That he wanted
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: to take freedom and liberty away from us. That he
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: wanted to take rest and peace away from us. Only
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: to come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone.
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: and look back on the men we were and say,
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: I thought he was going to take my liberty and
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: I was actually a slave. I thought he was going
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: to take my peace and my rest. And I was
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: actually at war within and without. I thought he was
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: going to take my liberty and my freedom. I thought
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: he was going to take my joy. But I was
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: miserable before I found Christ. I didn't even know what
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: joy was. I was a fool on a fool's errand
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: going to war for something that I could only get
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: from the one that I was trying to destroy. I'll
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: end with this. Revelation 11, 18 sort of sums it
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: up for us. The nations raged, but your wrath came,
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: and the time for the dead to be judged, and
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: for rewarding your servants, the prophets and the saints, and
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: those who fear your name, both small and great, and
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: for destroying your the destroyers of the earth. The dust
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: will settle. The battle will be won. And God will
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: rescue and save his people through the person and work
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: of his anointed one. that king on Zion's holy hill,
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: and he will utterly destroy his enemies. And in both things,
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: he will be glorified. Be still and know that he
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: is God. He will be exalted. Be exalted. among the nations.
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: He will be exalted in the earth. Amen.