I encourage you to keep the passage open as we look at it together this afternoon. Dear congregation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, why? That's the opening question word of Psalm 2, why? Why in the world? Why would anyone who lives in a world that is perfectly ordered and controlled by a good and sovereign God wish to undo that and desire to overthrow the rule of this God? Why? Actually, the word could be used four different ways, four different times. Why do the nations rage? Why do the peoples plot in vain? Why do the kings of the earth set themselves? And why do the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed? Why indeed? It doesn't make any sense because the rebellion against Yahweh, the Lord, and against his anointed one, the Christ, has no chance of success whatsoever. Resistance is futile. It's like bashing your head against a brick wall and you keep it up. and at the end you discover that the wall is still there, but your head is now bruised and bloodied. No, the wall remains. Your efforts against the wall will not work. So the pointed question, the very pointed question comes back again, then why? This Psalm joins with Psalm 1 in giving us a great and grand introduction, a grand entrance into that great cathedral of praise, which the 150 Psalms are. Psalm 1 deals with the ideal man. The one who will have no association with the wicked whatsoever. He won't sit with them, stand with them, speak with them, walk with them. But instead, he finds that his delight, day and night, day and night, day and night, always is in the Torah. It's in the law of the Lord. And that's where his pleasure is. And that kind of a person always bears fruit in season. He is green. His leaf is always green. He's like a tree that's planted by good channels of water. Everything that he does prospers. The wicked, on the other hand, are like fluffy, insubstantial chaff. light, flaky, easily blown away. Psalm 2 then goes on to describe the rumblings of rebellion against the Lord and his Messiah, the Christ. But true and lasting wisdom, and these two Psalms together are kind of a wisdom introduction to the Psalter. Wisdom for the wicked would be to smarten up, be wise. You think you're smart, but if you were really smart, you would humble yourself before this king, you would honor him, you would serve him, you would kiss the son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way. That would be true wisdom because, in fact, the Anointed One rules over all the nations of the world. And so this morning, this evening, we want to minister God's word to you from Psalm 2 under the theme, The Lord's Decree Responds to the Rebellion. Now most English Bibles will, shall we say, map out the Psalm, 12 verses into four stanzas, Three verses each, and that's going to be my breakdown. And perhaps the letter R is a way to remember the various sections. First, rumblings, verses one through three, then response. resolution, and then finally, verses 10 through 12, requirements. First, then the rumblings. David, because Acts 4 verse 25 identifies the author of this psalm as David, David has been eavesdropping on the nations around him. He's been listening to the kind of whispers and shouts and voices that have been heard in the various nations. And what does David hear? Well, what the psalmist David has heard is not good. The natives are restless. The natives among the nations are not happy to live in the wonderful world and rule of the father and his anointed one. In fact, they consider God's rule to be enslavement. Let's throw their cords away. Let's break their chains. Let's get rid of the rule of the Lord and His anointed. So the conspiracy against the Lord has begun in earnest. Now there are two persons in these opening verses that the nations dislike. that they are against and they wish to overthrow. It's Yahweh, the Lord, capital O-R-D, and his anointed one, that is the Christ. Now, what does the word anointed mean? And when you hear the word anointed, you think, wow, okay, that's when possibly a priest, maybe a prophet will take a horn of oil and he pours that over a person's head. And it smears it on their head and the oil maybe runs down to their clothing. Well, that's only a ceremony. That's only a ceremony that signifies anointing. What does anointing mean? It means you've been chosen by someone else. When a person was called to be a king or maybe a prophet or priest, they were anointed. They were chosen for that particular office. Again, think of David. Samuel comes to the home of Jesse and Jesse parades his various sons before him because Samuel is looking on behalf of the Lord for a man after God's own heart. Saul has now been rejected as king, though he still is acting as king, and so all the sons of Jesse parade in front of him. Samuel thinks, well, this one looks good or that one looks good. No, no, no, no, no. The Lord reminds him, the Lord looks on the heart, man looks on the outward appearance, and finally they, well, is this all your sons? Well, there's one more, but he's taking care of the sheep. It's the youngest kid. Well, get him here. That's the man chosen. by the Lord. That's the anointed one, David. That's when David receives his first anointing. To be anointed means to be chosen. Yahweh had selected him to a particular office. And so the rumbling against the Lord had been there from the beginning, actually beginning of history. This rebellion, this rumbling against the anointed here in Psalm 2 is not new. Go back to the very beginning of time, Genesis chapter 3. The snake tells the woman that God is keeping away from her information. But that information is pretty vital because if God would tell you all the truth and you would eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, your eyes will open and you will have knowledge like God. So the Lord is actually deceiving you by not telling you the whole truth. And so the woman looked and believed the lie of the serpent. The text tells us in Genesis, she took and she ate and she gave to the man who was with her and he ate. In other words, they gave into that temptation and in effect were acting against the ordered rule of the Lord. Oh, even today, we bring it to the year 2024. If I may venture out on thin ice, the Bible says that in the beginning we were created. He created man, Adab, humanity, male and female. But a version of the rebellion is seen today when some people say, no, no, you can be any gender. Any gender you want, it's your choice. You are like a god. You can choose your own gender, or no gender at all. And that's why when people speak out against that opinion, we, they, are so opposed because you're taking away from me my ability to be a god. I choose who I am, I am the master of my fate, I am the captive of my soul, and don't you dare take that away from me. In another issue, our God is strongly pro-life. But many people today claim that an unborn girl, an unborn boy, is actually a parasite. Merely a clump of cells that could be killed destroyed if the mother so chooses God says you shall not murder, but many people say I will take away, kill the parasite in my womb if I wish, and you have no right to take that away from me. Yes, this will be another issue loudly voiced and discussed in this upcoming election year. I can assure you of that. God's laws are too restrictive. God's laws are too confining. And government after government in our world today no longer protect the life of unborn children, or for that matter, the elderly, who have reached a point in their life of great weakness and frailty. I mean, if the weak unborn can be destroyed at the whim of another, why should we pay lots of money to sustain those who are elderly, weak, and infirm? You always rule. The government of the Christ, they would say, is actually a cruel dictatorship. Again, think of another example, if I may, from the Bible. At the end of Matthew 27, we see that the chief priests and the Pharisees go to Pilate. Now, this is an interesting development in the sufferings of the Christ. He's died and he's been buried. Now, Pharisees believe in the resurrection. Pharisees believe in that. They just don't believe in Jesus' resurrection. The Sadducees, the chief priests, no, they don't believe in the resurrection at all, but Pharisees do, but they conspire together to go to a pagan Roman governor, to ask for an armed guard to keep the body of Jesus from being stolen from the grave. Because they say this deceiver, the word might get out that this deceiver is now alive. He's been raised from the dead. And that deceit would be worse than the first. Or what was the first deceit in their mind? that Jesus is the Christ. We can't have that. We do not want that. And so here you have an example of how the pagan state is aligned with the false church to use their forces to suppress the Christ. Well, what happens? Second, there's a response in heaven, verses four through six. How does heaven respond to these murmurings among the nations? Well, an all-knowing, all-powerful God has taken note of the rumblings going on in the world of mankind. Human beings are so very, very small in the whole universe. If you think how vast the universe is, and then how big we are, tiny. And the Lord sees these tiny creatures called man rebelling against him. It causes God to have a hearty laugh. He responds, he who sits in the heavens laughs. Puny humanity imagines that he can overthrow the creator of the entire universe. It's pathetic at first glance. and deeply saddening if it wasn't so tragic. And that's what makes it laughable. God sits in the heavens, watches our puny efforts at rebellion, and he has a hearty laugh. But someone once wrote that when God laughs, it is not funny. It is not funny. For God has a good laugh at our rumblings and murmurings. He holds the rebels in derision. And that's not where it ends. The response moves from laughter to anger. Anger. His mood turns frighteningly dark. He gets divinely angry. You know, sometimes when we are angry, our anger is not righteous. But I can assure you that when God becomes angry, it is a righteous anger. How so? Because what is said in verse six? As for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. You see, being anointed means being chosen, and Yahweh does more than simply choose his anointed one. He actually gives his anointed one an address, Mount Zion. the holy hill, that hill at the southern end of Jerusalem. That's where his holy one is going to reign. That's where the Lord placed David and all David's descendants would rule from that spot. Ruling the northern tribes, ruling the neighboring nations, that David and his sons perhaps might conquer and subdue. The king has been set on Zion. The Christ has been put on God's holy hill. Therefore, in rebelling against the Christ, they are in fact rebelling against the Lord who put him there. Now that's laughable, that's pathetic, but it's really not funny at all. But then thirdly, there's a resolution that comes to mind in verses seven through nine. It's a resolution that is true whether we like it or not. Again, it's reality. You might imagine that bashing your head against a brick wall, that brick wall will eventually fall, but you're imagining something. Here's a resolution. It concerns the decree of the Lord. Now, the decree of God is this. His decree is to set his son, his holy one, upon Zion, his holy hill. The word decree is a very interesting term. It's actually the word used many times in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. You remember the phrase, the judgments and ordinances or the judgments and the statutes? Okay, that's the term that is used here. And the word statue and statute are two different words, but they are both words that go back to the word meaning to chisel. Now when you take beautiful stone, let us say marble, a good sculptor can chisel that marble in such a way that a beautiful statue emerges. Now, There's a longevity to a statute, a statue rather. If no one defaces it or topples it over, that statue is going to last for quite a while. But the same thing is true about a statute. It comes from the same basic root, to chisel. The statutes of God are his rules, his decrees, and they've been chiseled into place. A decree. Not a suggestion, a decree, not a platonic idea that we can think about and maybe debate. It is a law binding on the people of the realm, a fixed reality upon the nations of the earth. Now, what is that statute, that decree? In the time of David, a lesser rule, a lower king would often refer to a greater king as his father or his master. and the greater king would refer to the lower kings as sons or servants. That was the language of diplomacy back in David's day. So I want to challenge you to turn with me to 2 Samuel 7. I really want to read a passage. It's a bit lengthy, but I want to make a point here that when David wants to build a temple for the Lord, the Lord says to him through Nathan, no, no, no, no, no, no. Not you. I will build a house for you and your son will build a house for me. In other words, I'm going to establish your dynasty, David. So that rules and it did rule for hundreds of years, which is remarkable in the ancient world. And it was Solomon, the son of David, who would build the temple, the house of the Lord. Now in 2 Samuel 7, we start reading at verse 8. Now therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. And I've been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you, and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place, and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel, and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, The Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you who shall come from your body and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son." See that wording? God says, I will be your father. David and his sons would be the sons to God. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love. will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever." In accordance with all these words, in accordance with this vision, Nathan spoke to David. The Lord said to David that David would be a son, adopted, chosen to rule over Israel. But just Israel? Glance at verse 19. There David reveals something that is amazing already in his day. Verse 19, and yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord God. You have spoken also of your servant's house for a great while to come, and this is instruction for mankind, O Lord God. This is instruction, Torah, law, for all mankind. David, through the Holy Spirit, already senses that God's appointment of him as son has broader implications and a much wider spread than simply the 12 tribes of Israel. Oh, indeed. Indeed it is. And that's why we read in Psalm 2, ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. Well, brothers and sisters here in Orland Park, guess what? The Lord has asked. He's asked. Matthew 28, the end of the chapter, Jesus calls a mission rally at a mountain in Galilee. It says, 11 came. They worshiped him, but some doubted. Now, 11 people at a missions rally, that's kind of a poor turnout, isn't it? And some of them have doubts about the whole thing. And yet Jesus says, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. I want you to go now and make disciples of all the nations, all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe, obey everything that I commanded you. And by the way, I'm with you. I won't just leave you alone. I am with you to the end of the age." Jesus is asking his church, I want the nations now. Go and collect them, bring them in, all of them, all of them. Now, how in the world is this to get done? Well, by his word and spirit, of course. Now, if ancient kings ruled with staffs that were perhaps made of iron, this is how Jesus rules. The strength of that rod is the strength of the Holy Spirit and it's the firmness of his word. That's how he rules. The peoples of the world will be firmly ruled by Jesus the King who exercises power with a rod of iron. Finally then, in the fourth place there, the requirements of verses 10 through 12. Now, I don't like that word requirements because it sounds like a checklist. Okay, check that off, check that off. Okay, then we're done. No, it's more than that. For if all of this is true, that God has anointed his son and chosen him and placed him on the heavenly Zion, then how should we live and respond to this? Well, this is where the imperatives now pour out. Listen to them. Be wise. Be warned. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son. Honor Him. Embrace Him. Because you have no other choice really. The kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ is not going anywhere. It's not going to be replaced by some other kingdom. It's not going to be defeated in the end. It is not going anywhere. It's that brick wall that stands there as just very firm reality, firmly planted in our history, in our universe forever. Jesus is seated as King of Kings, greatest king, Lord of Lords, the greatest Lord. His rule will never end. Well, if that's the case, then open your eyes, you leaders. Face the facts, folks. You have the greatest ruler in the history of the world. He has the strength of a lion and the gentleness of a lamb. What could be better than that? It's the people who are enchained with their sins. They're the ones who are truly enchained. You are chained to your own passions, wicked passions, but you're chained to them. Christ came to liberate us from those wicked bonds. and chains. That's why the gospel promise in the closing words of Psalm 2 are so true and so wonderful. How blessed are all who take refuge in him. Yeah, truly blessed, truly happy, truly enriched by coming under the rule of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is peace, there is reconciliation, there is true, true freedom. What are the options? Well, there are no sane options. There are none, none at all. Because by ignoring God's requirements and murmuring against the Christ, the wicked of the world will face only his great wrath. His holy anger that ends in everlasting death in hell. This is certain. And this is not funny. This is not funny. I want to say to anyone here who is somewhat indifferent to Christianity and who, well, when it comes to Christ can take him or leave him, I just want to say, open your eyes. Look at reality. Christ is not one who enslaves you. He liberates you. Christ is the one who takes away your guilt and your sin. No one else will. And don't think you can take your chances by standing all by yourself. In judgment day, you need a really good lawyer. You need an advocate. You need a paraclete. And Christ is supremely the best. Come to him. For everyone who comes to him, he will not cast you out, but he will take you and embrace you and liberate you. This world needs to be still and to know that Jesus is a king, powerful yet full of mercy, eternal yet taking his place in time and space to know each of his subjects by name and by condition. His rule is not enslavement. You're not being chained, you're not being locked up, not at all. His dominion is full of grace and mercy and he's been set on Zion, a heavenly location now from which he rules all the nations of the earth. He liberates us. The gospel of the crucified, risen, and ascended Christ works love in our hearts so that we actually love him. His rule, his statutes, his fixed decrees. That's why a psalm like Psalm 119, can be a psalm that's written, oh, how I love your law. It is my meditation all the day. Because in following his word, we know where the path is. There's light. I don't need to have life filled with floodlights. I just need a lamp that shows me where to take my next step. That's what his word does. That's how he guides us home. That's how he takes us to his city. By his death and resurrection, Christ has subdued the rebellion in our hearts. And he has made us citizens of his everlasting kingdom. Praise the Lord. Amen. Let us pray. Thank you, Heavenly Father. for a rule over us that we need because we are so unruly. By nature, we rebel against you, but you also work grace into our hearts and lives. And so gracious God, help us to be wise, to open our eyes and to see where we are at. and help us to keep in step with the Christ, to love his rule, and to submit to his rule. And in that way, find our refuge in him alone. For you, Lord, will protect us. You will defend us against every trick, every onslaught, every accusation that the devil might bring. The dragon may make war against the children of the woman. But the dragon will be defeated. In the end, he will go down to crushing defeat, even as Christ, our Savior, lives and reigns forever. And we pray this in his name.