Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of man and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God is highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name. So the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. And then 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. He who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord holds them in derision. that 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 of 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, 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. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. This is the word of God. You may be seated. Let's pray. Father, again we pray that you would bless the reading and hearing of your word to our hearts and to our minds. That your Holy Spirit would illuminate and apply it to our hearts and minds to bear fruit in our living. Father, you have commissioned in the worship of your people the preaching and proclamation of the gospel. And you've called men to this task and you have set them apart by the laying on of hands to this ministry. But your servants are earthen jars. Your servants have feet of clay. Your servants need for themselves the same gospel that they proclaim to others when they preach. And yet, you take pleasure in putting treasure and earth in vessels, especially in the preaching of the word. And you grant your strength, the unction of the Holy Spirit, to your servants to preach with power and with clarity this wonderful gospel. Lord, grant it to your servant this evening, we pray, for your namesake, and for your people. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. I would remind you that last time I was here, of course, we began the morning sermon series in that portion of John's gospel beginning with chapter 13 and ending with chapter 17 on the night that he was betrayed. And what it was that Jesus did to demonstrate his love, first in washing his disciples' feet, what he taught them that they would need to know in 14, 15, and 16, and then his high priestly prayer for them and by extension to us. But in the evenings, I'm doing a series of sermons, and we'll see how far we get. before we have a pastor and then your pastor will be preaching and I won't be coming back as I hope to over the next few months anyway. We'll see as far as we get in a series of selective Psalms working our way through the Psalter because I want to demonstrate to you what I believe now to be true. The Holy Spirit who inspired the individual hymn writers, David, Solomon, Sons of Korah, Asaph, Ethan the Ezraite, Moses, multiple authors over many generations in the Psalter. also superintended over the process in that post-exilic community after the Babylonian captivity. of the gathering, of the selection, of the arrangement of the Psalms in the Psalter. Because there's a purpose in this, and that is to give to the people of God in a form that's easy to commit to memory, to meditate upon, to pray, to exhort one another, to sing in praise. a summary of the Christian religion, of what God has revealed to his people, especially as rooted and grounded in the covenant he made with David and within Davidic history. And I'm convinced this is demonstrable. I don't know that I'll have time to fully demonstrate it through the whole of the Psalter, but we'll see as far as we go. But I do wanna give you just a rough outline up front before we come to Psalm 2. And this is following Dr. Michael Morales. I don't know how many of you are aware of Dr. Morales and of his teaching at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. He's an extraordinary biblical theologian in my book. He's actually going to be speaking at the Presbyterian of the Southeast Family Conference in July, and I'm registered to go because I want to sit under Michael for three days. There is teaching on the Book of Exodus. But he helps us. The Psalter is divided into five books. A lot of people don't realize this, but it is. It's right there in your Bible, you can see it. Book one, Psalms one to 41. He summarizes that book under the heading, The Rise of the Davidic Kingdom. Book two, Psalms 42 to 72. He summarizes that under the heading, The Glory of the Davidic Kingdom. Book three, Psalms 73 to 89 is summarized under the heading, The Collapse of the Davidic Kingdom. Book four, Psalms 90 to 106 can be summarized under the heading, The Absence of the Davidic Kingdom, which corresponds with the Babylonian captivity. And then book five, Psalm 107 to 150, The Return of the King. and that king ultimately would be the Lord Jesus Christ. I think this outline can be demonstrated and I hope to do this as we move along. One of the things we're going to find as we go through this is that there are multiple different subsections within the Psalter. And there are certain ways they're set apart. I'm going to teach you about certain kinds of Psalms you look for. If you find it, it's a bookmark. Look and see what's going on before it and after it. But one of those kinds of collections is what we call the Torah-Messiah pairing. And this comes from Dr. O. Palmer Robertson. You may know of him, of the Christ of the Covenants. It's the book that he's most known for. This Torah, or law, coupled immediately with a Christological psalm, or a psalm about the Lord Jesus Christ. And that happens at three places in the Psalter, strategically placed. First place is Psalm 1 and 2. The second place is Psalm 18 and 19, right in the middle of Book 1. The third time is 118 and 119. 18 is a messianic psalm. 19 is a law psalm. 118 is a messianic psalm. 119 is a law psalm. Psalm 1 that we had last time is a law psalm, a Torah psalm. The blessed man does what? He meditates upon the Torah day and night, remember? The last time I was here. Psalm 2 is a primary messianic psalm. So we have law and gospel at the very front end of the Psalter with Psalms 1 and 2. So let's come then to Psalm 2. This is an extraordinary psalm. I was telling Nate and Catherine at lunch, this one preaches hot. Psalm 2 preaches hot. It's that kind of a psalm when you look at it. I hope I haven't set myself up to fail by telling you it preaches hot, but it does preach hot. This is a glorious, glorious psalm about the Lord Jesus Christ. And the psalmist, who I believe here is David, though we don't have it by title, But the psalmist first looks around him and looks at the world and he's just baffled at what he sees. And he asks a question. Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed. When you turn on the TV news, if people watch news on TV anymore, I don't know how they get their news. It certainly isn't from newspapers much anymore. Do you not see this happening in the world around us, the culture around us? The nations rage. They plot against the Lord and against his Mashiach in Hebrew, his Messiah, against his Christ in Greek. They plot against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us. This is what wicked men say. As in their vanity, they shake their fist in God's face. Let's cast their cords from us. Let's throw off the Torah. Let's throw off His law. Let's throw off what He says in terms of how we should live our lives. We want to be independent. We want to be independent of God. And this is precisely what they say. Let us tear away the cords from us. We want to be free from this God and from His law. Failing to realize that His law is good, it's good for you. No, it's not just good for you, it's best for you. The law of God is best for you. It's why in the Psalter we read of delighting in the law of God and the law of God being more precious to us than gold, much fine gold, sweeter than honey of the honeycomb. Because the law of God reflects the righteous character of God. And it's the devil who lies and tells you, well, it's just going to bind you. It's going to rob you of your freedom. It's going to set you free to be who God created you to be. But of course, we need the gospel. We need the gospel in order to see this about God's law and to joyfully submit to his commands. OK, that's the scene. from history and the scene here upon the earth. This is what the nations are doing. The psalmist is perplexed because the psalmist knows who God is. And so we see the stage of eternity or the scene from heaven. Look at what we see in verse four. He who sits in the heavens laughs. And there are different kinds of laughter in the Bible. Different kinds of laughter in the Bible. I think in Sunday school, Nate read about Abraham and about Abraham laughing. Was that in Sunday school this morning when you read about Abraham laughing? Was it last week? Because I've heard somebody read it recently about Abraham. Abraham laughed before Sarah laughed. And then Abraham was told that his wife would have a son. That's what makes him laugh. And what's he to name him? Laughter. That's what he's to name his son. And he does. That's what Isaac means. He laughs. There's the laugh of just a lack of faith. God promises that a seed will proceed from not just your body, from that of your wife. She's a 90-year-old woman. How is this going to be? That's a life of disbelief. But when Isaac is born, it's a life of joy, of a promise fulfilled. Different kinds of laughter. But then there's the laughter of derision. That's what we have in this text. He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord holds them in the derision. You get the picture, and I always think about this, I think about this text. You stand over an anthill, not fire ants, okay? They will eat you alive. But other kind of ants, you see an anthill down there, and you see how busy they are and everything down there, and you could just, Well, think about God, the infinite God. Think about God himself looking down upon the earth. And he sees mankind rebelling against him and shaking their little fist like an ant shaking its fist at you. Shaking their little fist at his face. I think of the Tower of Babel. I can't help but think about that. We're going to make a name for ourselves. We're going to build a tower. We don't need God to come down for us to ascend to heaven. No, we'll build a tower when we get there on our own. Can you imagine God, of course he knew they were going to do this, but can you imagine God looking down and seeing them build this tower, laughing in derision at them? That's what this is talking about here. They actually believe that they can unseat Almighty God, who said, let there be light, and there was light. Who created the heavens and the earth in the space of six days by the word of His power. Who upholds it according to His divine providence. To the end of His glory, they actually believe, humans here on earth believe, they can unseat Him from his throne in heaven. God laughs in derision. God laughs in derision. It's what the text says. Then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury. He's going to say something that should cause them to shake in their boots. Here's what he says that should frighten them. As for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. I've set my king on Zion, my holy hill. And who is that king? As we continue to read, it becomes quite clear who it is. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. When in history, As the father set his son, his king, on this holy hill, Mount Zion, and here, as we go further, we'll see, it's not talking about the Mount Zion that's here on earth. That's an ectype, to use a theological term. of the archetype which is the invisible heavens, the invisible Mount Zion, where the Lord Jesus Christ ascended after his death, his burial, his resurrection. It's what happened on the other side of the clouds in his ascension, the coronation of King Jesus. The Father has set him on his holy hill, Zion, and Jesus Christ reigns from heaven above. It's not he will reign, he reigns now. If they didn't have blind eyes and actually saw him ascended and seated at the right hand of the father, they would shake in their boots in terror before him. The text begins to unpack this. Look at verse seven. Now a tale of a decree, the Lord said to me, and now there's been a shift in voice. That is, there's a different person speaking in the psalm. This is the son himself who's speaking now. A tale of the decree, the Lord said to me, the son is speaking. This is what Yahweh said, God the Father said to God the Son, you are my son. Today I have begotten you. You are my son. Today I have begotten you. We need to unpack that just a bit. We think about the doctrine of the Trinity. One God, three persons, right? Equal in power and glory. Is that not what we say about the doctrine of the Trinity? We think about the personal properties of the persons of the Godhead eternally. We speak of the Son as being eternally begotten of the Father. And that's the right way to describe the personal property of the Son in relation to the Father and the eternal being of God. And what we call the ontological trinity, or God as he is and has always been. Eternally begotten of the Father. That's how we express that theologically in that sound that's orthodox. But the text says today I've begotten you. It doesn't say eternally begotten of the Father. How are we to understand this? Well, there are references to this in the New Testament. that related to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and the dead. Now, how are we to understand that? Well, he's eternally begotten of the Father. He is eternally God the Son. That's who he is in his relation to the Father. But in light of his work, now we're talking about, I'm giving you a theology lesson here, okay? We're talking about what we call the economic trinity, or God as he works in creation and redemption. And in that, the Son submits to the Father and the Spirit submits to the Father and the Son. God in his being, there's no subjection or submission of one person to another. They're equal in power and authority. But in this work, outside of himself, in creation and redemption, there is. We call it the pactum salutis, or we call it the covenant of redemption, different ways it's described. An eternal covenant between the persons of the Godhead from all of eternity to create and to redeem. And that is fulfilled in history, in creation, and then in redemption, when the Son submits to the Father, willingly, no compulsion whatsoever, to take to Himself a human nature to become man. And to obey the Father in everything, and His person is the God-man, while walking on the earth. And ultimately, to obey God in the cross. It's death on the cross. We talked about that cross this morning. Philippians chapter two that we read as our New Testament passage speaks of him being obedient even unto death, death on a cross. Jesus, the God-man, said yes to God the Father to die in the place of sinners on the cross. And because of that, God vindicated him by raising him from the dead on the third day. And God says now, the Father, in light of your work, this is your inheritance. In light of your work, this is what is yours. In light of your work, and so Philippians 2 speaks of God, therefore, exalting him to the highest place. The name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess what? Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. So he's eternally begotten of the Father. In light of his obedience in death, he is begotten of the Father in resurrection and in ascension at the right hand of God. And he's been given the name that's above everything in light of his obedience to the Father and the work of redemption. In a sense, he's doubly begotten, eternally, but also in light of what he did, and the Father delights in his obedience. And we are his heritage. We are what he has inherited. You're my son today, I've begotten you. And then he says, the father says to him, 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 dice them to pieces like a potter's vessel. You see why kings on the earth and the peoples of the earth, if they could actually see Christ in all of His exalted glory, if we could just push back the ceiling, push back the sky, and have eyes to see the invisible heavens, and see Him seated, you see why they should tremble. You see why you should tremble before the presence of the sun, exalted. God says, I'll make the nations your heritage, 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. This is what we're speaking of in terms of what's called eschatology or end times. You're getting a theology lesson tonight. And there may be different opinions about eschatology in this room. You're a bunch of reformed people. There probably are differences of opinion about eschatology. Some are more optimistic about what this will look like on the earth. Those are the post mills that are among us. Some, like me, see this more as Christ's reign from heaven now and the consummation and his coming at the end of this age in the new heavens and the new earth. and dashing into pieces his enemies in his coming. Regardless, either way, you should tremble before his presence. And then he gives an altar call. No, not an altar call. He gives a call to grace. But it's not like when I grew up, and I used to go to revival meetings, and at the end of the service, we would sing one song, time after, well, one was Just As I Am, of course, but then another one was Time After Time. He's waited before, and now he's waiting again to see if you're willing to open the door. Why won't you let him come in? And it pictures Jesus with his hands wringing, I wish I could save you, I wish I could save you. That's not the call we see here. Now, therefore, O kings, be wise. This is a warning and a call. Be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear. Rejoice with trembling. Isn't that something? Rejoice with trembling. And those who surrender to King Jesus, rejoice. We know who He is, we still tremble. This one before whom we tremble is my Savior. He is my Savior. Rejoice with trembling. And then we have this expression, kiss the Son. And what does it mean? Is it talking about a kiss of affection? No. Is it talking about what happens? Sometimes you'll see it on the news. where two kings from two small nations meet at an airport on the tarmac and the two kings come out to the middle to greet each other and they recognize their parity. Both of them have a domain and they kiss each other on one cheek and then they kiss each other on the other cheek out of respect for each other. Is it that kind of kiss? It's get on your knees. Get on your knees in absolute surrender to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. You kiss his signet ring. Kings of the earth. Kings of the earth, rulers of the earth, get down on your knees. This is the King of kings and Lord of lords. You kiss his signet ring, lest he be angry. Look at the text. Lest he be angry and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. I actually like the New King James Version here. when his wrath is kindled just a little bit. Just a little bit. You don't want to see his wrath kindled just a little bit. This is the call of absolute surrender of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the call. That's the gospel call. Years ago, I preached a tent revival Friend of mine, a Baptist minister, loved the man. He loved the Lord. He loved souls. And his church bought a tent. I don't know why. I think they thought, you know, maybe that'll bring about revival. They pitched it in the yard of the church. And he told me, he said, I want you to preach one night. I said, I'll kill the revival. You don't want me to preach. And he says, no, I really want you to preach. I said, I'll preach under one condition. I'm not going to give an altar call. He said, you don't have to give an altar call. You just come and preach. What was my text? Psalm 2. This was my text. This was the call I gave. I said, don't you dare come down to the front. Get on your knees and kiss the signet ring of the Son of God, who is King of kings and Lord of lords. If God's dealing with you, you throw yourself upon your bed, as Spurgeon used to tell people. And as soon as I finished that and said amen after the prayer, the preacher gets up and the singer gets up and they give an altar call. I shouldn't have done it, but I was kind of praying, Lord, don't let anybody come forward. And I killed the revival. Not a single person went forward. But is it really killing the revival? This is not about some impotent savior who hopes that you will somehow let him come in. This is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who is sovereign over all things, including your salvation. And when he works in your soul, you joyfully bow the knee to King Jesus. You joyfully bow the knee to King Jesus. And then we have this last statement. Hear the comfort in it. What he said to the kings, what he said to the rulers, that's frightening. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him. Who's Him? The Son, the King, the Lord Jesus Christ. When you come trembling before Him, in His majestic presence, in fear, because He is God the Son. And when you fall on your face before Him to kiss that signet ring, you look up. If you could see His face, you see eyes that love you. You see a Savior. who says, come to me. And you run into his arms, and you take refuge in him. That's the gospel call. Do you recognize who he is? Do you recognize what he's done for you? Do you realize He is King of kings and Lord of lords? And if kings on the earth could actually see, they would tremble in terror before His presence. Do you realize He is your Savior? And He loves you, and you can take refuge in His arms. That's the gospel. That's the gospel. Thanks be to God for it. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word in Psalm 2, a powerful word of the majesty