When the Supreme Court released their ruling on Friday morning, several of you texted me or called me over the last 48 hours asking, are you going to speak to this? How will this ruling affect me? And I answered by saying, let me speak to that on Sunday. As you open your Bible to Psalm 2, let me just tell you, I'm not a prophet. But just looking at the prevailing winds of culture, the stated directions, let me tell you seven things that will happen, that we as a church will encounter. The first is, is this ruling will harm children in our nation irreparably. Redefining marriage denies children of same-sex couples either a mother or a father. Decades of social science research has confirmed what the Bible has taught for thousands of years, that children do best, of course, when they're raised in a home with their married mom and dad. The second thing that will happen is this will force closure of Christian adoption agencies. Christian adoption agencies will close their doors when faced with laws and mandates requiring them to violate their conscious conscientious religious beliefs by placing children in homes with same-sex parents. This pressure will increase rapidly. The third thing that will happen is now you will see a flood of legal challenges. Christian business owners from photographers to bakers to innkeepers to florists and a thousand other vocations who politely declined to use their talents and businesses to participate in same-sex ceremonies will face harassment, legal challenges, crippling fines, and closing. The fourth thing that will happen is this ruling will subvert parental rights. Parents who want to say what their young children are being taught in public schools about homosexuality will find that this ruling is now a trump card that overrides their parental rights, leaving them no say in the matter. A fifth thing that will happen is this will affect tax-exempt statuses of churches. Pastors and churches will be pressured to perform and celebrate same-sex marriages or face government retribution, such as the loss of tax-exempt status, or be prosecuted for discrimination. A sixth thing that this will affect is things like licensing and employment. from school accreditation to professional licenses, even employment criteria, will increasingly require affirmation of homosexuality and same-sex marriage as a condition for employment or approval. And finally, endangered freedoms. Freedom of speech will become rapidly endangered as the government passes more and more regulatory and even criminal laws punishing Christian views of marriage, deeming it as hate speech in any type of media, including radio, print, television, the internet. This is already the case in Canada and the United Kingdom. Now, after saying that, there will be great benefits that come from this ruling. Nominal Christians will quickly disappear. That's a glorious thing. I remember sitting at a cafe in Bulgaria in 2003, talking to several pastors who had gone through the Soviet persecution. And I was asking them, they were speaking sort of longingly for the good old days when the church was under persecution. And as we sat in the cafe, I turned to one of them and I said, which was better? Then, when the church was driven underground and was illegal and was persecuted, or now, and without a hesitation, all of them said it was better then. Because they said to be a Christian meant something. They said now, these were men speaking in 2003, only after 12 years of restrictions being lifted on the church, said now anyone can say they're a Christian, it means nothing. One of the good results of this is the Church of Jesus Christ will be purified. The Church is always sanctified in the crucible of affliction. Ask first century believers or Christians from Cuba to North Korea to Sudan. But if we are truly to understand the nature of this event, which is certainly in God's providence, we must do so from a deeply biblical stance. The question you should be asking this morning is, do the scriptures provide a lens through which to see such events, to explain and interpret them? And of course, the answer is yes. And so as you turn to Psalm 2, let's seek the Lord's help as we prepare to open this word. Oh, sovereign Lord, you have told us that man does not live by bread alone. but by every word that proceeds from your mouth. So feed us now on that word. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Once you look carefully at Psalm two, you will need your Bible open. I want you to be impacted, influenced, deeply affected by the word of God, not by rhetoric. If you look at Psalm 2, let me remind you that along with Psalm 110, this text is the most quoted Old Testament text by New Testament writers. When the New Testament writers are penning their epistles, their letters, their histories, the text of Psalm 2, along with Psalm 110, keeps coming to their mind. It's a pivotal text. The Psalm 2 is quoted twice in Acts, twice in Hebrews, and three times in Revelation. Now, if you're going to understand Psalm 2, you have to understand, first of all, that it's set out as a drama in four Acts. And if you've got a pen and you're a Bible marker, you just want to write, you want to draw a quick separation and see this. Act 1, it divides out perfectly, by the way. Act 1 is seen in verses 1 through 3. Act 2 is verses 4 through 6. Act 3 is verses 7 through 9. And Act 4, the final scene, is verses 9 through 12. Now, I'll alert you to scene changes. And part of why this is so important is as each act opens, in each of the four acts, the place and the speaker shifts. And so it's always important to know who's talking and where are we. And you'll see that, I'll inform you of that as we move from paragraph to paragraph. So look at scene 1. Scene 1 in verses 1 through 3, the location of scene 1 is the earth. And the speaker is David. We're told later that's identified in Acts 4 for us. And David is noticing that humanity seems to be a seething tumult of plots and of discontentment. And he recognizes that a plot has been hatched. But this isn't one of those late night radio talk show conspiracy theories where supposedly people in Venezuela are trying to poison our drinking water. This isn't even like the fertile imaginings of those who see the trilateral commission plotting the assassination of the president. This is the mother of all conspiracies. Look at it in verse one through three. David sees the plot to overthrow the triune God. And when we eavesdrop in on the world's powerful movers and shakers and hear their strategy, they identify as their sworn enemy the Lord and His anointed. Look at verse two. The kings of the earth set themselves and their rulers take counsel together against the Lord and His anointed. And what is their strategy? Look at verse three. rebellion and anarchy. Their intent is to be free from God's rule. That's what's being told us in verse 3. They're saying, here's our plot, here's our conspiracy. Throw off the shackles of God's rule and especially throw off his law. Now I want you to look at the very words of these rulers in high places. These are national leaders, national judges, military generals, the powerful. Listen to their words. For example, in verse three, they use words like bonds and cords to speak of God's law. These are accusatory words suggesting that God is harsh, unfair and restrictive. His commands are considered to be insufferable bondage. Now, notice what we can say about this revolt. Look at verse one. It's premeditated. These are people who are plotting. So in other words, they're getting together and saying, here's what we intend to do. They're plotting. This revolt is collective. Notice in verse 2, they take counsel together. This is liberals and conservative, Marxists and capitalists. They're all agreed on this. We've got to throw off the shackles of God's rule. And their revolt is, look at verse two, it is determined. In other words, they have set themselves, we are told in the text, they're taking a stand. And their revolt is, look at verse one, tumultuous. They are raging. Do you see the rebellion in our nation today? The last two major rulings of our Supreme Court, You can write this one word over them. 1973, January, Roe versus Wade. Now in June, the decision to legalize same-sex marriages. These are rebellions seeking to cast off the law of God. The unregenerate man, of course, hates God's law and hates submission to it and wants to rebel. Even when men are dignified and have multiple degrees and wear black robes and sit in the seat of the highest power of the land, they're still rebels. Men may give 50 reasons for their hostility to the gospel. You've heard them all. I can't believe in miracles. Christians are hypocrites, all of the things that you've heard. But the baseline reason for their objection is this. They hate the thought of submitting to Christ as king and his laws. even though you and I know that Christ's burden is light and his yoke is easy. Their opposition together is unreasonable. Look at the question that's asked in verse one. The question is asked of them, why? Why the tumult? Why the rebellion? Why the anarchy? No answer is given. It's an unreasonable revolt. And what you must see when you hear the language of unbelieving men seething in their tumult against God and the restrictive nature of His laws, the restraint of His laws, what you must see in the words of verses 1 through 3, is that unbelieving men, even in the highest realms, would love to get their hands on God and pull him down from his throne to be done with him. You need no other proof of this that when God came in the flesh, no sooner was he born than an attempt was made on his life by a king. When we look at Matthew chapter 2, King Herod, of course, is spoken of right here in the text. What does he do as soon as God has come in the flesh? He attempts to kill him. This was humanity's opportunity to lay its hands on the Lord from heaven. And in that moment, politicians put aside differences and rivalries, whether it be Herod or Pilate. We can all agree on this. We want to put God in the flesh to death. Jews and Gentiles labored side by side on this project. Religious competitors, Pharisees and Sadducees cooperated to murder God the son. And when we look at act one of this play, Right now you're probably depressed. Well, Carl, this is, seems as though the whole world is arrayed against God. Take heart. Look at the key word in Act 1. All their efforts are in vain. Do you see it in verse 1? They're in vain. Even when striking what they thought was the death blow to God's plan, the murder of Christ, the murderers were only doing what God had planned beforehand. We read in Acts chapter four, in all their plotting and scheming, they simply assisted in furthering and achieving the plan of God. Look at the second act of verses four through six. The scene changes. from the earth, teeming with its billions of humans in a rebellious uproar, to David's picture of the heavenly throne room. So catch the shift. Now we have a whole different picture in verses 4 through 6. Now the text takes us into the very throne room of God, where the Most High conducts his affairs of state. And how does the omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, sovereign God respond to the plots of men? laughs. But it's not a snicker of amusement or delight, but a scoffing which expresses anger and contempt. When Pharaoh imagined that by drowning the Israelite males he had found a way to wipe out Jehovah's people, at the very same moment his own daughter was giving a royal education to Moses, didn't God laugh? When Jesus came out of the tomb after all the best combined efforts of Herod and Pilate and devils and men, didn't God laugh? And on Friday, when nine men and women tried to pull down God's creation ordinance, which pictures the holy union between his son and his bride, didn't God laugh? It's absurd for men to fight against God, for clay to fight against the potter, for creatures to war against the Creator. Even though rebellion on a massive scale is broken out, the one in heaven enthroned is not panicked. Keep one finger here and look at Isaiah chapter 40, and I want you to get a picture of how God responds to such things. Isaiah chapter 40. Beginning in verse 15. In Isaiah 40, pick up the narrative at verse 15. Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket. They are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales. Behold, he lifts up the islands like fine dust. Verse 17. All the nations are as nothing before him. They are regarded by him as less than nothing and meaningless. Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. Now look back to our text. The psalmist concludes the second act by saying, here is my response to the plots of kings and judges. Look at verse six. I have installed my king. God's response to the global rebellion of kings is to crown his own king. He's already done that which his enemies seek to prevent. Now note several things well about this coronation. Look at verse five. The coronation of Christ as king is terrifying to the unregenerate man. Look at it there. This distresses them. It terrifies them. This is their worst nightmare. A righteous, omnipotent king. Did you hear that? This is the worst terror to wicked rulers and wicked judges. A king who has two key characteristics. He is holy and righteous, and he's omnipotent and sovereign. That is their worst nightmare. You should also notice about this coronation, the kingdom of heaven is not a democracy. The father is not asking for your or my or anyone's vote of confidence in installing Jesus as the reigning king. He's not asking you to make Jesus Lord. He's already appointed him as king and Lord. Your task and mine is simply to bow the knee. And then notice the leading feature of this king's dominion. Look at verse six, when God says, I've set my king on my holy hill of Zion, the leading feature of Christ as king's dominion is holiness. Every aspect of his kingship is pure and righteous. That is the standard for rulers, that they are holy, that they uphold the pure law of God. The scene shifts again. Look at verses 7 through 9. Act 3. Now the king speaks. The king. The one who's been coronated and installed. Jesus. And what are his thoughts? Look what he says in verse 7. I will surely tell of the decrees of the Lord. What is the decree? God's sovereign, eternal, unchangeable plan. Why unchangeable? Because if God changed His plan, He'd not be immutable or omniscient. He must have learned something or gotten more or new or better information. But this is not the case. Look what Jesus says in verse 7. He doesn't say, I will make it up as I go along. No, He says, I will tell of the unchangeable decree and plan. Jesus is stating the eternal sovereign plan of God. And so for those of you who say, what's God's will for my life? What is his plan? Listen carefully. Look at verse seven through nine. Jesus tells us one of his three offices is that of prophet. He's a prophet, priest, and a king. It's his task to declare the secret councils of the Trinity. And so what you have in verses seven through nine is you have Jesus giving us deep insight into the plan of God that has been hatched from before the foundation of the world. Look what we're told in verse 7. Jesus tells us, here's the Father's plan, to say to the Son, you are my Son, today I have begotten you. When was that statement made? I won't take your time, but if we were to go to Acts chapter 13 and study there, we would find out that these words were stated to Jesus at his resurrection and ascension. The words of verse 7, when the father said, today you're my son, I have begotten you. This is at the moment when Christ experienced a glorious transformation from his condition of humility in which he was subjected to the abuses of many and was now raised to a position of power and authority that is appropriate to his glory. Verse 7 is the preamble to his commissioning to be the anointed one and king. Then look at verse eight. Again, Christ is telling us of God's decree. He's telling us what God says on that day when he's raised and ascended. Ask of me. Here's what the father says to the son when he enters the throne room of heaven after living a sinless life, dying a substitutionary death, being raised from the dead, and he enters the hallways of heaven to the acclaim of all the angelic beings and hear the father's words to him. ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession." Look at what Christ's jurisdiction is going to be according to verse 8. The Father says, that same seditious horde Pictured in verse 1, the rebellious masses are under Christ's power and subject to his wish. Absolute sovereignty over the nations is his. That's what we're told in verse 8. And no one can contest his right to do with him as he pleases. Remember what Jesus said after his resurrection? He said, all authority has been given unto me in heaven and on earth. These are words of hope for the world spoken of in connection with the Great Commission. So what's Jesus going to do with all his power and authority? Look at verse nine. The final words of his installation as king are terrifying to the wicked and are intended to be so. As reigning king, Jesus will dispense justice to sinners who hate him. He will be judge and executioner over the wicked. Remember, this installation was announced in the context of an insurrection by the nations. God's sovereign decree includes the final disposition of rebels and revolutionaries. The king, look at verse nine, is seated on a throne. In his hand is a scepter, a symbol of authority. And look at what a scepter is made of, according to verse nine. Look carefully. It's made of iron. it'll be wielded with force against rebelling people. Do you know what happens when iron scepters strike clay pots? They're smashed into bits. This picture, look at verse 9 carefully, study it, get it locked into your mind. It emerges again over and over again in scripture. In fact, the last time we see this picture is in Revelation 19. Look there with me for just a moment. Revelation 19, And here we see the reigning king, and I want you to notice what he has in his hand. Revelation 19 verse 11 and following. John writes, I saw heaven open to behold a white horse and he who sat on it is called faithful and true. In righteousness he judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire and on his head are many diadems and he has a name written on him which no one knows except himself. He's clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword, so with it He may strike down the nations and he will rule them with, there it is, his rod of iron. He treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty, and on his robe and on his thigh is a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We're told at the book of Revelation, at the very end, that these words that we're told prophetically in Psalm 2, that they come to pass. That Jesus exercises his kingship and his rule with his scepter of iron, shattering rebellious nations. Psalm 2 verse 9, look at it carefully, is a sure promise that Jesus will judge his enemies. The first three scenes of this drama have been calculated to heighten your consciousness of the most profound realities of the world. What's being said in the back room, in the halls of the White House and Congress and the Supreme Court. But then you remember that you too were born as a member of these mutinous nations. You were born with a rebellious heart towards God. You have broken God's moral law time and again. And now you realize that God's son, his risen one, is seated on a throne which controls the affairs of the world. And he has been given eternal instructions to crush unrepentant rebels. He is approaching. What can you do to escape his impending wrath? This is a crisis of epic proportions. Scene 4 gives the answer. Look at verses 10 through 12. The scene switches back to earth and David now gives advice to world leaders on wise behavior before this great king. And I want you to notice a fascinating truth. You have here the free offer of the gospel. the offer of mercy and kindness. This great king who's been so offended offers to the same rebelling rulers pardon, hope, and safety. Look what the king does. He holds his hand out to judges who make wicked rulings in verse 10. He tells them where to find hope and grace Notice his long suffering that he postpones his wrath, but there's only one place that is safe from the wrath to come. Look at verse 12. In him. Whether you're a judge or a garbage collector, whether you're a president or unemployed, there's only one place of safety from the wrath to come. You must turn and flee to him. How do you do that since he's now enthroned in heaven? Call out to him in prayer and tell him you've resigned from the armies of the nations and you want to come enlist in his regiment. Tell him that you'll no longer hate his law, but you'll delight in it. And then do homage to the son. Look what we're told in the text. What repenting sinners are to do. They are to kiss the son. What does that mean in verse 12? It means allegiance and affection. You remember when Samuel anointed Saul as the first king of Israel, he kissed Saul as a symbol of allegiance. To kiss the son means to declare your allegiance to him and your affection for him. Those who have been haters of God and at enmity are now lovers of God. That's why Paul can write in 1 Corinthians 16, if anyone doesn't love the Lord, let him be accursed. And so I would ask you the question this morning. Let's set aside the actions of presidents and judges for just a moment. We're told in verse 10 what a wise man will do. Look there carefully. The psalmist says, do you want to be wise and not be a fool? The day of the Lord is coming. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Serve him with fear, rejoice with trembling and kiss the sun. I want to make several applications from this psalm to our nation, to us, to the future. First of all, perhaps the ruling of Friday will finally convince you. to never be surprised at any rebellion against God and His laws. Never. We believe in total depravity, but I'm amazed at how many people I spoke to on Friday and Saturday who said, I'm shocked. My friend, being a Calvinist means we are never surprised at rebellion against God and His laws, whether it's homosexual marriage or partial birth abortion or whatever is coming down the line. Opposition to the Father and the Son are no new thing. It was happening 3,000 years ago. That's the point. David is writing 3,000 years ago. This is an established pattern. In fact, you must recognize, listen to me carefully, it is the norm. for civil rulers to array themselves against God and His law. This is why it is always the height of folly for Christians to align themselves with civil powers. I will tell you this over and over again as we enter the election season. This is why we sing when we sing hymn 57, hallelujah, praise Jehovah. No confidence in princes, nor for help on man depend. He shall die to dust returning and his promises shall end. That's the setting of Psalm 146. The second application, men. Try not to be too bossy with your time. I know that you men work hard, you have jobs, you have commitments. But this week, even if you've not been doing so, let me implore you to jump in with Pastor Dodds and read with the brothers in this congregation the excellent book that they'll be reading over the next several weeks, What Does the Bible Really Teach About Homosexuality by Kevin DeYoung. It's a powerful book, especially the section on answering the seven main objections that the culture raises. A wise man, a godly man, a mature man. is equipped to give an answer for his convictions and doctrines, an answer from scripture. You don't have the luxury any longer of not thinking about these matters. And so brothers, men, males, let me implore you this week to plug in either to the Tuesday or Thursday reading group with Pastor Dodds. Read these in community with the other brothers here in this congregation. Let me just define for you the role of the civil magistrate once again. Look carefully at verse 10. It is the duty of all in places of power to promote and exemplify piety. And if they don't, their judgment will be more severe. God speaks to civil rulers. That's the point of verse 10. For those of you who say, Carl, you're talking about politics. No, the Bible is talking to civil rulers. God is speaking directly to them. And so if we're going to be faithful to the text, we must say President Obama, Justice Sotomayor, Justice Kennedy, you must bow the knee to Jesus as King. in humility and reverence, or face his kindled wrath. And we must tell them the power that rules the world is not in the White House or the Pentagon or the Supreme Court or Congress, but the throne of Christ. To him has been given all authority. True discernment for civil magistrates. Look at verse 10. True discernment for civil magistrate lies in this, in acknowledging and obeying Jesus. That's where true wisdom does. You're looking for policy discussions and what would be a wise way forward. Here's the wisest. Obey Christ. Submit to his law. Bow the knee. Run to him with open arms. Our nation may refer to the justices that made the decision on Friday as the Supreme Court but there is a far higher court and a greater judge, and he has set a court date, and he will overrule all unrighteous judgments, and he is the Supreme Court. We must become practiced at saying to those in power who make such wicked decisions what my dear friend Johnny Cash said, you can run on for a long time, but sooner or later, God will cut you down. Another application. My friends, it is simple and easy for God to destroy his enemies. There are some of you who I've spoken to since Friday who you're wringing your hands, you're saying, oh no, as though you were dealing with an omnipotent force when you're dealing with the decisions of nine senior citizens. One stroke of Christ's rod will break them. Look at Pharaoh and his massive army. Sinking like lead in the Red Sea. That is how plots against God end. Another application we should recognize. When I was a kid, I spent every July at my grandparents' farm in southwest Oklahoma. And every Wednesday night, I got taken to First Baptist Church of Faxon, where all 34 people, most of my relatives, gathered for the prayer meeting. And they prayed for the same thing every Wednesday night in July in Oklahoma. They prayed for rain. Why? because they were desperate. Many of them had gone through the dust bowl. And so now we will learn how to pray. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. The third petition of the Lord's Prayer with a desperation. What should dominate our prayer meetings? Listen to me carefully. Listen to me carefully. What should dominate our prayer meetings is not endless requests for travel mercies and my sore ankle. No. It must be pleading with the Lord of the universe to bring about change in our nation, whether through revival or judgment, so that his will, his moral law is done on earth, especially in our nation as it is in heaven. We will now learn to pray. Another application. When it comes to marriage, the Bible says the same thing today that it said on Thursday. So let's not be shrill with faces contorted in anger. nor let us be silent. Let us simply keep saying the exact same thing that the Church of Jesus Christ has said for millennia, that Jesus saves sinners, all kinds of sinners. We know what to do with people in sexually immoral lifestyles. The same thing that Jesus did in John 4 when he encountered the woman who'd been married five times and is now living with a man. The same thing that the ministers of the Corinthian church did When homosexuals came and heard the preaching of the word and saw some emerge by God's gracious transforming power out of that lifestyle and into glorious sexual purity so that they could, so Paul could write in first Corinthians, such were past tense some of you, but you've been delivered and washed. To the media and the culture, we must keep saying, when they say to us, well, you use the church, you have to get on the right side of history on this issue. We must respond graciously, but firmly and repeatedly. The only right side of history that finally matters is to be with the son who sits at the right hand of the father. That is the right side of history. Again, so that you or I don't knee jerk. Let me remind you of these things because my fear is that many of you are going to swing like a pendulum from one side to the other. And so let me remind you, we must respect and pray for our governing authorities. We must obey them unless and until they command us to disobey God's law. We must affirm the biblical truth that all people, including those in aberrant sexual lifestyles, are created in the image of God and have value and dignity. We must love our neighbors, regardless of whatever disagreements we may have, including conflicting beliefs about marriage. This means living civilly and respectfully alongside of those we disagree with. But make no mistake. We are now on the slippery slope. Can anyone now deny that God has given our nature over to wickedness? For those of you who don't know, this is sin 101. Sin is always progressive. The evil one in the world never say, okay, we are now satisfied with the progress of sin in this culture. That will be enough. Thank you. No. Sin is always progressive. Next up, pedophilia, followed by far more unspeakable horrors that I can't even say in this pulpit. The good thing is, all lukewarm and marginal believers will quickly be exposed and fall away. As we go forward from this day, out into a nation that has now grown dark, a nation that is now, and can anyone dispute this, under the judgment of God, we must now reaffirm our loyalties. Our loyalty is not with an earthly nation. Those come and go, they rise and fall, and ours is falling. Our loyalty, our sole loyalty, is Christ the King over all the kings and his word and his people. Let's pray together. Our Father, have mercy upon our nation. Use us as lights who will now glow much brighter in a darkened world. Lord, help us to speak the truth in love. We pray for evangelistic hearts that we will take every opportunity to proclaim Christ as the only hope for a rebellious world. We pray that you will give us firmness, that you'll put steel in our backbones, that we will stand firm in where your word speaks, we will speak, and we will live. And so we pray for stamina and perseverance in days to come, and we pray it in the name of our ruling and reigning king, even Jesus our Lord. Amen.