Before I read from Psalm 2, would you join me in prayer just for a moment? Lord, your word is mighty and powerful and breaks the rocks of our hearts. And your word preached is promised power. So we ask that you would have your way with us now that you would change our hearts, that you would help us to see Christ in all his glory, and that you would fill Andy with power from above, and the words that you direct him to say, Holy Spirit, may they be words that come for this people, and may they be words that help us to worship you in even greater ways. Thank you for loving us and giving us your word. May we now have ears to hear, in Christ's name, amen. Psalm 2. Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us. Well, he who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath. and terrify them in his fury, saying, As for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. I will tell the decree. The Lord said to me, You are my son. Today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. you shall break them with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Now therefore, O kings, be wise, be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the sun, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. The blessed are all who take refuge in him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you that you have spoken. We thank you that you have given us your written word, the scriptures and your living word, your son. And we thank you that you have established them and that they He rules over us, Father, even when it seems like everything is out of control, even as it seems as if the world is spiraling towards complete and total decay. God, we thank you that you have established your Son on his throne. And so now as we look at your word together, I pray that we would be blessed to know that you are king and that we would bow before you and live as if you are king. I pray all this in your son's precious name. Amen. How's the mic doing, by the way? Can everybody hear me okay? All right. I'm trying to figure out if this thing was working. I'm a little bit of a Luddite, so I apologize if the technology is not doing what it should be doing, but we'll make do. It may do for thousands of years. We can make do today. If you've been paying attention and you know where to look, you may be noticing a very significant cultural shift in the Western nation's attitude towards Christianity. So the mask of secular neutrality is falling away, and the governments of the free world are increasingly becoming hostile openly to those who actually live out their faith in Christ. Together, our world leaders are assuming the prerogatives of God by attempting to redefine reality itself. And if you're not on board with affirming the world's redefinition of truth, love, justice, morality, sexuality, gender, and even human life itself, then you're becoming public enemy number one. From the top down, we're seeing this in almost every Western nation. They seem to be unified in their contempt for anyone who submits to the Word of God. I'll give you a few examples. Just last year in Britain, a 71-year-old street preacher was forcefully arrested for reading Genesis 1 in public because apparently affirming that God created the male and female, just as Jesus did and just as pretty much the whole world did until about five minutes ago, is hate speech. More recently, an Irish teacher stood on his religious convictions and refused to lie to his students, students who are confused and impressionable about their gender by using preferred pronouns. Then during the height of the pandemic, we saw as multiple pastors in Canada and around the world were jailed, fined, and docks for following the biblical imperative to gather for worship despite the fact that world leaders allowed crowds to gather at strip clubs, liquor stores, and political protests that suited their fancy. Even more recently, 20 to 30 FBI agents swatted a Catholic pro-life advocate who prayed outside of abortion clinics, all in front of his home and in front of his family. And this was despite the fact that the head of the FBI can't be bothered to investigate a string of terrorist attacks on more than 23 pro-life pregnancy centers in the past few weeks alone. So we see these are not isolated incidents. They're part of a growing trend, both here and around the world. And it seems like nearly all the leaders of the free world, including our own country, are aligning against the church. At times like this, when the world seems aligned against us, and when God's opponents seem to be enjoying a continuous winning streak, It may seem like we're on the losing side of history. Some of us may be tempted to give in to despair based on the political climate, or to place our hope in a change of regime that may or may not come. Others may be tempted to bury their head in the sand and just get with the program in order to avoid opposition. But Psalm 2 reminds us not to place our faith in the world and its authorities. Psalm 2 reminds us that they are naturally hostile towards God and his king. In fact, God has answered the world and its hostility towards him with a king like no other. God and his king are in complete control, and one day he will return to crush all the pretenders to the throne. This offers incredible hope and comfort, but it also offers a grave warning to those who would attempt to live as a ruler over their own lives. So let's look at Psalm 2. Whereas Psalm 1 contrasts the destiny of the righteous and the wicked, Psalm 2 contrasts the destiny of God's anointed king with his wicked foes. And it's understandable that in the past, some have viewed the two together as a single psalm. But of course, Paul refers to this as the second psalm in Acts 13.33, so that should settle the issue for us. But regardless of whether you see them as a single or not, it's clear that together Psalm 1 and 2 form the preface to the entire book of Psalms. They set the tone for each psalm that is to follow. And even though there's no superscription, context, tradition, and the rest of Scripture, such as Acts 4.24-26, all agree that this psalm was written by King David. And of course, David is the Old Testament king to whom this psalm most closely applies. But like so many of the royal psalms, it finds its true fulfillment not in King David, but in the King of Kings, in Jesus Christ. So today, I'm going to consider this in three parts. It actually breaks down into a four-part structure. It's very symmetrical, but I'm a sucker for the old three-part sermon structure, so we'll stick with three. First, we're going to consider the world's hostility towards God. Second, we're going to look at the response of God and his king. And third, we're going to consider God's ultimatum to the kings and would-be kings of the world. So first, let's consider the world's hostility towards God and his king. If you ask the average person about their attitude towards God, only a handful would probably describe themselves as hostile, right? People might say, yeah, we're good with God. Or they might say, I'm indifferent towards God. I don't really believe in him. But very few are actually going to say that they hate God. But verses 1 to 3 reminds us that the world's attitude towards God is one of pure, unadulterated rage. As a matter of fact, the word that's translated as rage, when it's repeated and quoted later in the Greek in Acts, is descriptive of the behavior of fierce warhorses neighing for battle. This is like an animalistic, frothing-at-the-mouth kind of rage, the bestial, murderous animosity that you can't reason with. Despite claims of religious neutrality, the unbelieving world doesn't just look at God dispassionately. They hate him from the core of their being. Some just hide it better than others. And this hatred is found at every level of human society, including at the top. In fact, this passage tells us that both the leaders and the peoples of the world work together, united by their contempt for God. Despite their many differences, people from all walks of life, from different nations, will operate with a unity of mind and purpose that would otherwise seem impossible when it comes to their hatred of God. Hatred of God makes for strange bedfellows. Al-Qaeda and Antifa might not agree on a lot ideologically, but when it comes to opposing God, they'll link arms together. This might seem like the stuff of paranoid conspiracies, but it's a historical and present reality. Some of us have a hard time believing that the leaders of the world could align against the church. It sounds like the whole world's out to get you. But that's exactly what Scripture says. People from different nations, different walks of life, who disagree on almost nothing else, will unite against what they consider mankind's greatest enemy, God. As early as Genesis 11, we see a perfect example, the Tower of Babel. The nations of the earth conspired and banded together, setting aside their differences to lay siege against heaven and make a name for themselves apart from God. In Genesis 11, 1 and verse 4, we read, Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. Then they said, Come, let us build ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to heaven, so that we may make a name for ourselves. See, mankind has been at war with God ever since the fall when we tried to declare independence from Him, and anyone who thinks otherwise is fooling themselves. Nothing brings the peoples of the world together like opposition to God. Brothers and sisters, don't be discouraged, don't be concerned when you see the nations at war with each other, but take notice when you see them marching together in lockstep. In verse 1, David asks a very natural question, why? Why do the nations plot and war against their creator? What can mortal created beings possibly hope to accomplish by doing so? This is the height of foolishness, but when you reject God, you reject reason himself. It doesn't have to make sense. But in verse 3, the nations provide their own answer, why they're rebelling against God. They say, let us break their chains and throw off their shackles. You see, they want freedom from God's rule over their lives. Living within the boundaries of God's rule brings true freedom in the same way that a fish finds freedom within the boundaries of water. But the sinful heart doesn't see it that way. We seek freedom from God's rule rather than freedom within God's rule. And much like a fish's attempts to gain freedom outside of water, our attempts to declare independence from God's rule are suicidal. The human heart naturally sees God and his rule as oppression. He is an oppressive tyrant and his rule is regarded as bondage. He represents the ultimate threat to human autonomy and freedom. And ironically, declaring independence from God, men become slaves to human tyrants and their own sinful desires. As much as we want to rule ourselves, we would rather be ruled by other sinful human beings than God himself. After all, man's authority has its limits, but God's authority doesn't. And it wasn't just the Gentile nations who rejected God's rule. It was even his own people. the people to whom he revealed himself in covenant relationship. In the eighth chapter of 1 Samuel, we read about how Israel asked their leader Samuel for a king so that they could be just like the other nations. And the request itself was a rejection of God's rule, according to Samuel 8, 7. In that verse, God says, they have rejected me as their king, not you. And Israel's problem wasn't that they wanted a king per se. See, God always planned for Israel to have a king. Even in Genesis, we see that. But the problem was they wanted a king just like them. They wanted a king that was sinful like them. They would rather be ruled by other sinners than God himself. And so they got it. Saul, how did that turn out? Not so well. They got a king, like the kings of the other nation, and a whole line of kings, and most of them were duds. Some of them were straight up evil. This is one of those be careful for what you wish for because you just might get it scenarios. Yet despite the rejection of him, God mercifully provided Israel with a king after his own heart in David, the author of this song. But the interesting thing is, Psalm 2 reveals that the world hates God's anointed rulers just as much as they hate God himself. You see, they rage and plot and conspire against both God and his anointed. As a king who represented God faithfully, David knew conflict throughout his entire life. He was constantly at war with the surrounding nations. Friends, family members, members of his own court betrayed him. This is why in Psalm 126-7, he says, too long have I lived among those who hate peace. I am for peace, but when I speak, they're for war. See, the problem wasn't that David wasn't a peaceful man. The problem was that his enemies didn't want peace with God. And of course, David was just a precursor to the ultimate godly king who would be delivered through his line centuries later. No king better represented God than Jesus because Jesus was God. And as such, no king faced more opposition from the world. The world hated him without reason. Even though he approached with meekness, humility, and gentleness, he came in peace. And yet he could scarcely speak in public without starting a riot or sending leaders into a murderous fit. When he was oppressed and unjustly affected, he didn't even raise his voice. And yet still the world hated him because he showed exactly what they were. Cosmic traitors. Usurpers. He loved God without compromising truth or justice, and if anyone deserved to rule, it was him, and they couldn't stand it. The apostles recognized the fulfillment of this psalm in Jesus. In Acts 2.25, we read, Through the mouth of our father David, your servant said by the Holy Spirit, Why did the Gentiles rage in the people's plot and vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed. For truly in this city there were gathered against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles. and the peoples of Israel to do what your hand had predestined to take place." You see that? They did the same thing to God's king. They treated him in the same way. The same attitude came out. They came together despite their hatred for one another, right? Luke 23, 1, 12 tells us that Herod and Pontius Pilate were enemies, but they became friends on the day that they sent Jesus off to his death. The Pharisees and the Sadducees were enemies, but in John 11 and 12, they conspired together to kill Jesus. And the Jewish people hated Roman rule with a passion. And yet in John 19, 14 to 16, they would rather call Caesar king than Jesus. If you want to see the world's attitude towards God and His King in full display, look no further than the cross. The rulers, the crowds, political rivals who had nothing in common, even God's own people set aside their differences, got together to murder God's true King on the cross. And we did this because of how we felt towards God. When we got our hands on God, we mocked him, abused him, spit on him, and executed him like a traitor. As representatives of God and his king, why are we surprised when we get treated this way as well? Right? We should expect to be hated by the world if we are faithfully representing the king. Just as they hated the king, the world will hate those who represent the king. John 15, 18 to 25, Jesus says, if the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belong to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, and that is why the world hates you. A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. I'll stop there and skip down to verse 25. But this is to fulfill what is written in their law. They hated me without reason. Friends, the world still rages against God's rules. And the same is true of the rule of his king. Now, most of the modern world would like to say that they have no beef with God or with Jesus. As I said, few would admit open hostility, but when people are forced to confront the reality of God and his King, a God and King whose rule supersedes our own, well then, the masks come off and the knives come out. This has been the case throughout human history and it's true today. Since the fall, we have been at war with God and that enmity extends to anyone who represents his rule. So as disturbing as it is to think that the world and its authorities would be working together to destroy us, we need to wake up and recognize that we are in hostile territory. Charles Spurgeon says these verses show us that all trust in men in the service of God is in vain. Inasmuch as men oppose Christ, it is not good to hang our trust upon the multitude for their number, the earnest for their zeal, the mighty for their countenance, or the wisdom for their counsel, since all of these are far oftener against Christ than for him. The world and its authorities do not have our best interest at heart. Now, the Western church has been uniquely blessed for centuries, and the faithful have always been persecuted to one degree or another. But we've experienced a respite in the sense that we are not facing as much open hostility as much of the world. But this is the default attitude of the world towards Christianity. It's the rule, not the exception. So if you feel like the whole world is turning against you, don't be surprised and don't be discouraged. Take heart because it means that you belong to the king. On the other hand, if you decide that you're going to compromise the words of God in this king, if you're embarrassed by him, if you set aside your convictions to make peace, watch out. If you just strike the right tone and stick to the gospel rather than divisive political issues, maybe, maybe, maybe then the world will love us. No. The world will hate us if we accurately represent our King. Peace with God is war with the world and vice versa. And if you think that you can stand with God's King and expect to remain in good graces with the world and its authorities, you're in for a rude awakening. When the ground starts shaking, there is no sitting on the fence. We need to pick a side and know which side we are going to be on. So now let's look to God's response to the world's hostility. Verses four to six direct our attention upwards above and beyond the commotion and designs of this world to the throne rooms of heaven above. How does God respond to mankind's declaration of independence? Does he stand and pace nervously? No. He sits back and he has a good laugh. God does not tremble, according to James Montgomery Boyce. He does not hide behind a celestial rampart, counting the enemy and calculating whether or not he has sufficient force to counter this new challenge. He does not even rise from where he is sitting. He simply laughs at these great imbeciles. You see, the world and all its authorities pose no threat to God. Tyrants and warlords and totalitarians who seem so intimidating to us are less intimidating than insects to God. And history shows, just as he did at Babel, that God can topple mankind's great artifices and edifices with less effort than a child who kicks over an anthill. The world's grand plans, designs, and machinations against God's rule are a pathetic joke. And sometimes mockery is an appropriate response. You know, we're always told as Christians, don't mock. Sometimes there's a place for mockery. Now we have to be really careful about that because often our mockery comes from a place of pride to exalt ourselves. But if anyone has a right to laugh at the idiocy of men, it's God. Thankfully, God doesn't just have a good belly laugh and call it a day. You see, the nations may not be a threat to Him, but left unchecked, they can cause a great deal of death, destruction, and harm to their fellow man. Because God is both loving and just, He won't remain silent or passive in the face of evil. Now, his wrath and judgment are not popular topics in the modern church, but a God apart from wrath and judgment is no God at all. If God was to ignore evil, if he was to remain silent and passive, he would neither be just nor loving any more than a judge who lets a killer off the hook because boys will be boys. When you love something and it is attacked, the only proper response is wrath. God's wrath against evil is inseparable from his love. A God who does not respond to evil in wrath is not worthy of being called God at all. In response to the world's hostility, God establishes his anointed king and installs him on the throne of Zion, which is another way of referring to Jerusalem. You see, God's ultimate answer to the world and its wicked schemes is a king. In verses 7 to 9, the Lord's anointed king shares God's decrees to himself regarding the nations. Of all the kings in the Old Testament, the passage's author, David, was, of course, the epitome of a godly ruler, the closest epitome of a godly ruler that we can think of. But even David fell prey to the same weaknesses that have toppled every other ruler, government, and system throughout world history. J.C. Ryle once said, the best of men are men at best. For all his accomplishments, for all his godliness, David was still sinful and mortal. And as great as King David's reign was, it was temporary, it was local, and it was limited. So as though these promises may apply to David in some limited sense, it's very clear that they were not fully consummated in David himself. You see, David was just an appetizer for the main course. The true culmination of all these promises would be fulfilled in David's offspring, Jesus. In Jesus, God sent us a king like no other. He sent his only begotten son. Now, some like the Jehovah's Witnesses will point to verses like verse 7 as evidence that God's merely a created being, an angel. But Hebrews 1-5 quotes this passage in reference price to establish his superiority over even the angels of heaven. For instance, it says, For to which of the angels did he ever say, You are my son, today I have begotten you? And again, I will be to him a father, and he shall be a son. None. And likewise, the use of the term begotten here indicates not that Jesus was created, but that he was completely unique and inherently superior over creation. Although created beings like men and angels are sometimes called sons of God in scripture, it is never used of them in the same sense as it's used of Christ. Notice how often Jesus says, my father and your father. not our Father. He makes a distinction. Jesus is the only Son of God who is begotten, not created. And this indicates that he's of the same stock. He's made of the same stuff, the same nature as God himself. Now, there is some mystery to this because an eternal God doesn't beget in the same way that we do. Yet it is clear that whatever this means for God, it's not the same thing as created. For instance, in Colossians 1, we read, he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authority. All things were created through him and for him, and he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Does that sound like a created being to you? Of course not. You see, we may create something like a portrait in our image, but when we beget a child, it is our image because it shares our nature. Theologians will recognize the Son as eternally begotten, right? But there is a specific point in history that God announced His Son to the whole world. and that day was the resurrection. In Acts 13.33, we read of this passage, this he has fulfilled to us and their children by raising Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, you are my son, today I have begotten you. Likewise, Romans 1.4 says that Jesus Christ was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead. You see, it's not like Jesus wasn't God's Son prior to this, but this was how he proved it to the whole earth. In the resurrection, God granted Christ victory over sin and death, the same powers that have toppled every government and ruler throughout history, the same powers that ultimately topple every single one of us. It's as if God the Father, beaming in pride, lifted up Jesus on his shoulders and announced to the whole world, this is my boy, and he's the king you've all been waiting for. The kings and the peoples of the earth will clamor over one another and crush others underfoot in an attempt to position themselves in God's place. And yet Jesus already possessed equality with God by birthright. And yet he let go of the perks of divinity, adding the form of a human slave to his godly nature and entering into a hostile world. He allowed himself to be whipped and beaten and mocked and spit upon. And even more amazing, he did all this to die the death that his enemies deserved for their own rebellion against God. Isaiah 53, 5 says, He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. On Calvary, Jesus faced God's wrath in its entirety, dying the death of rebellious sinners like you and me, so that we don't have to, so that we might live with him eternally. And it was because of this humility, his willingness to suffer for others in obedience to God, that God exalted him so highly. See, God's king demonstrated his strength in weakness. Jesus took the low road to the throne. We read about that in Philippians 2, 6 to 11. Being in very nature, he did not consider equality with God something to be used to advantage his advantage. Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. See, God's King came in humility and peace to suffer and die for the very enemies who would nail him to a cross. And yet death couldn't hold him. The resurrection was a complete reversal of what seemed to be utter defeat at the hands of his enemies. Consider this, God used the murderous rage and conspiracies of the nations to place God on the highest throne in existence. The leaders of the world, the mobs and Satan, the usurper prince of this world, were all just pawns in God's game. You see, through humility and love, Jesus conquered enemies from every nation, from among the Gentiles and from among the Jews, showing that God's weakness surpasses the greatest of human strength. Napoleon Bonaparte had a pretty healthy ego, and yet he's credited with saying the following about Jesus. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I myself have founded great empires, but upon what did these creations of our genius depend? Upon force. Jesus alone founded his empire upon love, and to this very day, millions will die for him. You see, the promise of verse 7 has already been fulfilled in Jesus' first coming, but the complete fulfillment of verses 8 to 9 is yet to come. In Christ's second coming, God will finish what he started, granting the Son's inheritance in full. Revelation 11.15 points to that day when Christ's conquest will be complete. The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. Of course, Christ's second coming is going to be very different than his first. Revelation 19, 11 to 16 says, I saw heaven standing open, and there before me was a white horse whose rider was called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white fleece, and coming out of his mouth as a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter." Referring to this passage. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. And on his robe and on his thigh, he has this name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. You see, Jesus came in meekness and humility, conquering his enemies through love the first time. He will return in power to judge the world and conquer his remaining enemies by force. Jesus came in peace riding on a donkey. He will return on a war horse to claim the world as his prize. Jesus was crowned with thorns, stripped down, nailed to a cross, and bloodied beyond recognition by his enemies. He will return with many crowns of gold, wearing a robe dyed in the blood of all who oppose him. Jesus was crushed by sinners for the sake of sinners, that they might submit to him in no peace. And he will return with a rod of iron to crush those who submit, who refuse to submit to his rule. Johnny Cash sang about the man coming around. Well, when the man finally comes around, the rebellious nations of the earth will put up no more resistance than a clay pot against an iron rod. Spurgeon says, those who will not bend must break. Their destruction will be bloody, total, and final. It's an everlasting destruction in hell that keeps getting worse for eternity. See, many of us, Christ, just as... know God's love apart from His wrath, we cannot know Jesus as our friend and Savior unless we also know Him as the King of kings who will judge the world in power. The same Christ who came to die as a lamb in our place will return as a lion. And as terrifying as this should be to all who refuse to submit to His rule. This is the greatest comfort for those who are crushed by the world in his name. Brothers and sisters, we know this, that no matter how bad the world's opposition to us may become, we know that Christ is reigning now because of his resurrection. He sits on his throne. And because of this, we also know that one day he will return to right all wrongs and make sure that all accounts are settled. So even as the leaders of the world seek to put themselves in God's place and crush his people underfoot, we can rest assured that their conspiracies and designs are just playing into the Almighty's hands. They're living on borrowed time, and we are on the winning side of history. John 16, 33, Jesus says, I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world. And now we come to the final section. Part three, God's ultimatum to the world and its authorities. In verses 10 to 12, David closes out the psalm by petitioning the rulers of the earth directly. Although this final section is addressed to the kings and rulers of the earth, it's not limited to the political rulers and kings of the earth. It also applies to the self-appointed rulers of the earth. Even those would-be kings, like you and me, who just want to control our own lives. In other words, everyone. We are all naturally hostile towards God, and we want to be in charge. Now, it's easy to trick ourselves into thinking that we have as if he's in charge. When it costs us something that we love more dearly than God himself to serve him, or when standing with him means standing against the world and its authorities, when God's rule becomes too restricting or demanding for our tastes, well then, God might as well be dead to us. See, we stand in judgment over God and his word. We ignore the bits we don't like and fashion a God who affirms us. We have fashioned a lifeless puppet who caters to our sinful desires and speaks our own honeyed words back to us. You see, what many people call God and Jesus is just an idol that serves that. But we can't pull the living God strings. The God who has revealed himself through Christ in the Bible won't remain silent or bow to any human authority. The God who rules defines reality. He can demand anything of us and wants nothing less than our whole heart. His plans don't require our approval and he can contradict and override our will. So just like the kings of the earth, our sinful nature rages against his control at every turn. Even as Christians who have been forgiven, who have laid down our arms, we still see it reappearing more often than we would care to admit. As a matter of fact, apart from God, even our good deeds become an attempt to prove that we're nicer, wiser, and more compassionate than God himself, that we belong in charge. So what does God have to say to the self-appointed rulers and the wannabe kings like us? He tells us to be wise and heed instruction. You see, despite our rebellion, God still condescends to offer an opportunity for repentance. He implores us to be wise. Now, of course, he's offering true wisdom, not what the world calls wisdom. What the world calls wisdom is folly and vice versa. Whereas the world's wisdom exalts man and encourages his rule, true wisdom takes us to the King who died on the cross. In 1 Corinthians 1.18 we read, We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the wisdom of God, I'm sorry, for the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. And so we're presented with an ultimatum. God has responded to the world's hostility by establishing his own king. And one day his king will return to crush all pretenders to the throne. And so a response is required from us. In other words, we're told, pick a side. God and his king, or the world and its authorities. Option A leads to blessing and eternal life, and option B leads to everlasting destruction. There is no nuanced third way or happy medium. There is no fence to ride here. As Jesus says in Matthew 12 30, he who is not with me is against me. We can turn to the king. There is still time. But we don't get to come to God on our terms. We come on His. We can't approach God with self-confidence or a cavalier attitude. Rather, we approach Him with fear and trembling as rebels, traitors, and usurpers who recognize that we are worthy of the death that He died on Calvary. It's only because Christ died in our place that we can approach God at all. Have you ever had a near-death experience? A close shave? Unless you're a fool, it leaves you with your heart in your throat and your hands shaking, trembling, but also joyous and grateful that you're still alive. Right? And if someone rescued you, you don't carry on as if nothing just happened. You don't place yourself in the same situation as if nothing happened. And this is the kind of trembling, grateful, joyous fear that we need to have when approaching God. We don't fear him as those who await judgment, but as former enemies whose judgment fell on God himself. Colossians 1 21 to 22 says, once you were alienated from God and were hostile in your minds because of your evil deeds, but now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you wholly unblemished and blameless in his presence. Jesus didn't save us from our sins so that we could go right back to it. Yes, God loves us as we are, but he loves us too much to leave us as we are. Because he gave everything to save us, we belong to him. 1 Corinthians 6, 19-20 says, you are not your own, you were bought at a price. As those who have been saved, the rule of God and his king is now a blessing to us, not a burden. It's the path to freedom, not slavery. In Matthew 11, 29 to 30, Jesus says, take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble and you will find rest for your souls. My yoke is easy and my burden is light. Spurgeon said, to a graceless neck, the yoke of Christ is intolerable, but to the saved sinner, it is easy and light. We may judge ourselves by this. Do we love that yoke or do we wish to cast it from us? We have to kiss the son lest he be angry. You see, kissing was an expression of total subjugation when it was from an inferior to a superior. But it was also a token of friendship. Likewise, to kiss Christ is to ask him to pardon your rebellion, to trust in his work for you on the cross, and to acknowledge him as the highest authority in your life. It means asking him to take control of every area of your life, both public and private. And this involves far more than just obedience. It involves adoration. Jesus calls us to serve not for fear of punishment, but out of adoration for the son who deigned to die for unworthy sinners like us. You know, in verse one, David asked, why did the nations rage against God? Well, the bigger question is this. Why would God die for the nations who raged against him? As the hymn goes, alas, and did my savior bleed and did my sovereign die? Would he devote that sacred head for such a worm as I? You see, we must be like the sinful woman in Luke 7 who couldn't stop kissing Jesus. In verses 37 to 38, we read, a woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house. And so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. And as she stood weeping at his feet, she began to wet his feet with her tears. She wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. Here was a woman who knew what she was and what Jesus was. She knew that she didn't have any standing in the presence of the King on her own account. And yet it was that that allowed her to approach the king rightly. When the self-righteous Pharisee scoffs at Jesus for not pushing a sinner away, Jesus responds to Simon and says, do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a piss, but this woman from the time I entered has not stopped pissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little, loves little. Kiss the king, lest he be angry. This passage offers a final warning and a note of encouragement. We never know when his wrath is going to flare up. One way or another, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord when he returns. You can either bow to Christ now because he faced wrath and judgment for you or be bowed by his wrath and judgment when he returns. And so if you have not yet kissed the king, what's stopping you? Lay down your arms and stop fighting God for control. Stop trying to be in charge and give him your life. Submit to the king fully and completely. Adore him with every fiber of your being. One day it will be too late. He will return and the whole world will face judgment. And on that day, all that will matter is whether Jesus is your Lord and Savior. Because the only refuge from God's wrath is found in God himself. So if you've already taken refuge in Him, know this, be encouraged. You are blessed because you are at peace with the God who sits on the throne and the God who will win and conquer the earth. And your eternity is secured with Him. The world can do its very worst to us, but we are safe from the most terrifying thing of all. God's judgment. The rulers of this world don't stand a chance unless they turn to him. And so they can rage and conspire, kill, threaten, punish, and destroy all they want. But no matter what they do, we can be like David at Psalm 27 when he said, the Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold, the refuge of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked advance against me to devour me, it is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear. Though war break out against me, even then I will be confident. And that is the warning and the encouragement that I want to leave you with today. God's king reigns. He sits on the throne today. No matter what happens, no matter what we see happening politically, societally, culturally, we know who wins. And if we take refuge in him, we have nothing to fear. So God, my friends, I encourage you today as you go out through the rest of the week, live as if God is on his throne and live as if he wins. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you did not leave us to our rebellion. We thank you that you did not leave us to our folly and our sin, Lord. But you sent a king like no other who would die in our place. a king that would ascend to the throne by going to the lowest point in all creation for the sake of others so that they wouldn't have to. Lord, we thank you and praise you that you have provided such a king for us. And now, as we go forth throughout the week, as we are tempted to be discouraged, as we are tempted to give in, as we are tempted to put our hope in political authorities. Lord, we pray that we would put our hope in that, that we would be unshakable and without fear, that we would know that we have peace with you. And that's all that matters because of your son. And it's in his precious name that we pray all these things. Amen.