Hello, you're listening to Let the Bible Speak. Let the Bible Speak is the radio ministry of the Free Presbyterian Church. Stephen Pollack is the pastor of Free Presbyterian Church of Malvern, Pennsylvania. The church is located at the junction of 401 and Mallon Road. Thank you for joining us today as Dr. Pollack opens the Word of God and lets the Bible speak. Thank you for joining us once more for the ministry of Let the Bible Speak. Today we continue in this new series of studies on the first book of the Psalter, and that is the Psalm 1 through 241. I trust that God will bless the word to your heart as it's preached a week by week, and that we will indeed see Christ in all the scriptures, and that in seeing Christ you might come to know life, and that life that is abundant and eternal. Please take your Bibles and turn to that second Psalm now, please, this evening, Psalm 2. Let's read together from the verse number one. Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree the Lord hath sent to me, thou art my son this day, have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. I shall break them with a rod of iron, and I shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings. Be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son lest he be angry and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled. But little blessed are they that put their trust in him. Amen. May God be pleased to again bless and encourage us in his word and this evening for his name's sake. Christ is, of course, the theme, the message of the entire Bible. Christ himself makes that clear in his post-resurrection appearances to the disciples. He expounds the law, he expounds the prophets and the Psalms as they refer to himself. And so we can certainly see in the Bible that we are to glean information regarding Christ in all the scriptures. But of course, that is not the only purpose that God has as he reveals his word. It's not only that we get information from the scriptures, but that we respond to them properly. The response is vital. And the response here, again, is encouraged at the end of verse number 12, blessed are all they that put their trust in him. That's the response expected, that we believe that Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing we have life through his name. We are to respond to what the Bible says regarding Jesus Christ. And we are to pray. We're to pray that those that hear this message also will respond. That should be the burden of our souls. It's not enough for us to simply want people to know more about the Bible and to know more about Jesus. We do want that, but we fundamentally want them to make the right response. And that requires, of course, as you know, the work of the Spirit of God. And so as we study the scriptures and even study this psalm, it is our burden and our desire that those who hear would believe and put their trust in Christ Jesus. I say this is very clearly a messianic psalm. It's a psalm that points to the coming Messiah. Now if you see that simply in the setting of the psalm, it's pointing forward to what is to come. And we look backwards and we see that one's name is Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth. But at the time of the writing, it's pointing forward to the expectation of a coming Messiah. It's referred to, Acts 4, Acts 13, Hebrews 1 and Hebrews 5, refer to very clearly in terms of a fulfillment in the person of Jesus, and in particular, as we'll see, in his resurrection. The word Messiah is used here in our psalm, in the verse number two. where it refers to those who take counsel against the Lord and against his Messiah, against his anointed. And so we are seeing here a psalm that very deliberately is instructing us regarding the person of Jesus and indeed his work and ministry. The psalm actually divides very easily into three parts and our English version is very helpful in that regard. In the connecting terms they use, you have verses 1 through 5 that highlights the enmity of the world. And then you've got the connecting word, verse 6, yet. So verse one to five gives us the enmity of the world, and then verse six begins with yet, which introduces the subject of the sovereignty of the Lord. And then down in verse number 10, you have the third section, be wise now, therefore. And if you like the application that comes from this, so you have the enmity of the world, the sovereignty of the Lord, and then the responsibility. of man. I'm going to touch those first two things very briefly and we'll take a little bit more time on the responsibility of man. So first of all, please note verse 1 through 5, the enmity of the Lord. And that enmity is seen in the verse 1 in the word rage. Rage involves enmity. It involves anger and hostility belonging here to the heathen. And that enmity, that rage and hostility is opposed to the Lord. Verse two, it's against the Lord and against his anointed. And we certainly marvel, although we shouldn't marvel, we marvel at the unity of those who hate the Lord. Those who argue about everything else, but when it comes to their hatred of Christ, they're of one mind and one voice. And of course it is because they're under the authority of their king, and they're part of the king of darkness, and they serve that authority, and thus they have that unity in their hostility. And the burden they have, their priority in this, is that they would pursue freedom. Verse number three, let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us. And again, we love the word freedom. We love the desire to have liberty, but please understand that there is no such thing as liberty. The child of God is not free. They're bound to Christ Jesus and they're under his authority. They are not free. They are the servants and the slaves of Christ. And those who oppose Christ, they want this freedom that they are not under the rule and authority of the Lord. They want to break those bands asunder. Of course, Such enmity, such hostility, no matter the unity, is in complete futility, because you have the response of the Lord. Verse number four, he that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. We have here, of course, anthropomorphisms. We have here the picture that's being given to us of God, who understands that all this rage and anger is of no avail. You know, you get perhaps the picture here of the school bully. Now, please understand this illustration is very, very limited. It's got many, many flaws, but sometimes you get this young child, perhaps very small compared to the bully. The bully's six foot four, 250 pounds, and you get this little child, and the little child's full of rage, and the arms are flailing, and the bully just puts his hand upon the head and laughs at them, all their rage and all their fury, but it's completely futile. Of course, the Lord is no bully. He's a God of grace and kindness toward us, but the picture's still the same. He laughs at the futility of those who try to hurt and harm him. It is completely worthless. And so the warning comes, verse number five, he will speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure. We understand these verses again. Verse number 2 is used by the apostles in Acts chapter 4 in the context of the opposition that they faced when they preached Christ. That's the encouragement here. Even today there are those who are opposed to Christ and the preaching of Christ. That opposition is completely futile. Well, that's the enmity of the world. Then see secondly, the sovereignty of the Lord, verses six through nine. You see, the hostility and the enmity of this world cannot prevent the Lord from accomplishing his purpose. Such an encouragement. We find ourselves here praying for God to do His will and for His King to come. And we wonder, we see, you know, humanly speaking, in the present time, we see so little signs of advance. I mean, we wonder, well, perhaps the unity and the rage of the heathen is accomplishing something. Perhaps they are actually achieving something. Perhaps they are hindering the purpose of God. Well, please note the word yet. Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion. The Lord has eternally purposed to have Messiah to reign, and his sovereignty is seen here. Yet have I said, I will declare the decree, I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance. These are words that speak of our God's sovereignty. None can stay his hand, none can stop or frustrate the purpose of God. Pray on in light of that. Don't give up on your prayers. Keep on persevering in prayer, knowing that God is able to do his good and perfect will. And so in his sovereign day, we see here the coronation of the king. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. Now, if you turn across, please, in your Bibles to Acts chapter 13, you will see how Paul, as he preaches the gospel, sees Psalm 2 being fulfilled in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 13, verse number 33. God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again, as it is also written in the second Psalm, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. Just in case you wondered how old the numbers of the Psalms are, they date to before the 10th Christ, part of the Old Testament Scriptures. Here, the second Psalm we've just read is the second Psalm referred to by Paul. Thou art my son this day, have I begotten thee. And he sees that Psalm being fulfilled in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. his resurrection and his ascension and his reign in glory. Now, that helps us understand something of this term, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. Now, it does not mean that Jesus Christ was not the Son of God before the resurrection. Again, this has caused confusion and understandably so, but think of the baptism of the Lord. Well, the Lord says, again, over the head of the Son of God, thou art my Son, thou art my beloved Son. So think of these terms, not in terms of the beginning or the origination of Jesus as the Son, but rather in terms of declaration. On the baptism, the Lord declares Jesus to be the Son. And now that declaration occurs with glory and with power and majesty in the resurrection, thou art my Son, declared in the resurrection. Now, you turn across to Romans chapter one, you'll see that to be the case. Romans chapter one and the verses number three and four. Again, as Paul is opening up his letter and discussing the gospel of Jesus Christ, he says regarding Jesus, verse three, concerning his son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to be the son of God of power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. So it's a declarative act. The resurrection is, if you like, it is God saying to this world, here is my beloved son. He has obeyed, he has triumphed, he has conquered, he's my son. And that, of course, corresponds with the words in the Psalm too. The Lord is determined in the second Psalm, I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. We don't time now, if you compare Acts 13 with Acts 2 and the Pentecost sermon, you will see the resurrection originates, if you like, the ascension and the exaltation of Christ. So all of these things come together. I've set my King, my Son, the resurrection of Christ leads to his coronation. And so that's the coronation of the King in the sovereignty of the Lord. And then the occupation of the King is also given to us here, verse eight and nine. The occupation of intercession, he's praying, praying to the Father for the nations. And then also, an aspect of his work will be that work of condemnation and judgment. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron. The messianic king, two aspects to his reign. One is the engathering of precious souls, and the other one is the condemnation of those who will not believe the gospel. to aspects of the Lord's reign. And so God, in His sovereignty, has put Christ upon the throne despite the enmity of this world. Now, in light of all this, what is our responsibility? Well, verses 10 through 12, what is the responsibility of man? Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings. Be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the sun, lest he be angry. What is the right response to the sovereignty of our God, the ascension of our Savior, despite the hostility of this world? Well, the direct action that is seen here really is in verse number 12. Kiss the Son. You say, who is the subject of this psalm? It is the Son. He is the anointed, verse number two, the Messiah. He is the Son mentioned in verse number seven. He is the King referred to in verse number six. And so you want to say, well, what is the direct response to the knowledge and the doctrine of Jesus as the Christ, as the King? What's the direct response? It is in that word, kiss. We are to kiss the sun. So what's involved in this term? Well, let me just mention four things involved in this term, and then we're finished for this evening. There is the involvement here of acknowledgement. Acknowledgement. Look what it says in verse 10. Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings. Be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Whilst, of course, the highlight here is being drawn upon the need for rulers to admit their sin and to turn from their sins and to trust the Lord, there is a general application. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him. But the Gospel? Oh, it's... sufficient for the ruler as it is for the citizen, sufficient for all. In fact, it is compulsory that those who rule and reign also be confronted with this message and see the necessity that they also would repent and believe the gospel. But the general application comes to us again tonight. What is our responsibility? Well, if we're going to kiss the sun, there must be an acknowledgement as to several things. We must be open to the instruction that comes in the psalm, be wise, now therefore, I'll be instructed ye judges of the earth. We must be willing to acknowledge his identity, acknowledge the truth, despite the thinking of majority. Though the majority despise and are angry at the person of Christ Jesus, we must, by God's grace, acknowledge his identity. You think of the gospel. The gospel's written that we believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing may have life through his name. Every part of that verse, John 20, 31, is referred to here in the Psalm too. He is the Christ, verse two, the anointed. He is a son, verse number seven, thou art my son, and through him comes life, verse number 12. That those who are trusting him are blessed, they are not those who perish in the way, verse number 12. You see, the overwhelming evidence is that Jesus Christ is seen in this psalm, and it is vital that we acknowledge him to be the Christ, the Son of God. But not only his identity, also his majesty. He has risen and ascended to the throne. We must acknowledge New Testament claims regarding Jesus. The gospel presents us with propositional truths regarding Christ. He died. He rose again. He ascended the third day and he sits at the right hand of God. Those truths must be believed if we are to be saved. His kingdom. This kingdom is true. He rules and he reigns. We must renounce the kingdoms of darkness, the kingdom of Satan. We must renounce these things and see Jesus Christ as our Lord and God, acknowledging his identity and his majesty and his authority. He is king and judge. He's willing to save. Therefore he prays. Thank the Lord that he's willing to save, but he's also one who will come and destroy. In His first coming, He did not come to destroy, He came to save, but He will come again in wrath. And when that wrath is kindled, verse number 12, but a little, just a little bit of Christ's wrath, and it will bring the ungodly to the point of perishing. We've got to recognize His authority, and that He is the only Son of God, the only Savior of sinners, and to know Him is to get life, and to be put away from Him is to perish. But acknowledge these things. When we kiss the sun, we're acknowledging all those things, his identity, his majesty, and his authority. But in kissing the sun, not only is there acknowledgement, there's also approach. Again, despite the opinions of others. Don't expect that if you approach the sun that you're gonna have the favor of this world. You approach the Son and others are mocking and scoffing at the Son, you can be guaranteed they'll mock and scoff at you. And so though others are angry at Christ and angry at His claims and angry at His authority, you're going to approach Him. Adam hid from God and no man by nature desires to be near Christ. Even Peter, when confronted again with the glory of Christ at the draft of fishes says, depart from me for I'm a sinful man. Oh Lord, by nature we will not approach the son to kiss him. But something changes in our hearts. There's a change in our souls. There's an interest in Christ, a desire to know Him. Like Paul would say, that I might know Him. There's that burden, and so that desire to be near Christ develops in our souls. So we approach Him. By nature, we stay away from Him, but now, by God's grace, we want to be near Him. And of course, the only hope there is the third thing in this, and that is acceptance. Our approach of Christ is not repelled by Him. He does not turn away or kiss. It's really very wonderful, this idea, this invitation from God, kiss the Son, is an invitation to do that which we will not desire by nature, and it's an invitation to kiss the Son who's altogether pure and holy, harmless and undefiled, yet he welcomes the kiss of the sinner. Now, not the sinner unchanged. He welcomes the regenerate sinner. who therefore is the repentant sinner and who by God's grace is the redeemed sinner and thus the reconciled sinner. The Lord welcomes such sinners whose hearts have been changed and he embraces them in gospel affection. He is willing to receive our kisses as we worship and delight and glorify him. There's so much involved in these words, kiss the sun. We acknowledge him. We approach him. He accepts us. And fourthly, this kiss is a kiss of adoration. This kiss is not the kiss of Judas the betrayer. It's not the kiss of Judas the betrayer, but the kiss of one of affirmation and affection and adoration. There's an interesting reference to idolatry in the Old Testament. You know the account well of Elijah and the promise of Baal. and the discouragement that follows in Elijah's soul. But the Lord describes the 7,000 in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal and every mouth which hath not kissed him. You see, the kiss here towards a God there, towards Baal is a kiss of idolatry. But here, when we are kissing the Son of God and the Lord, it is a kiss of adoration and worship and devotion. That's why verse 11, sits there, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. If you're gonna serve Jehovah, you must kiss the Son. Because to kiss the Son is to kiss Jehovah incarnate. It is to kiss the one who is the immediate to bring you to worship God. You cannot worship and glorify Jehovah unless you come through accepting and adoring the Son. And so the worship is seen here. And it's significant, isn't it? Now this worship is a fear and joy. The glory, the majesty, the song revealing this Psalm. He is altogether glorious and he's able to break us with a rod of Arden. He's able to destroy us. And so we come in the recognition that he's lovely and gentle and kind, but he's also wrathful towards the wicked. And so we come in fear and trembling. We come in adoration, not carelessly. but with a burden that he accepts us because of all he's done on our behalf. So we come with his reverence. He is glorious and majestic and splendid in all of his ways, and yet he is the source of joy. We worship Him because He has accepted our approach. We've seen Him who He is and He's accepted us as we've come towards Him. He's received us and everything in Him provokes joy in our souls. We see the wonder of his person, God and man in one person, reconciling the sinner to God. And we rejoice in the wisdom of God and bring about such a glorious plan of redemption. And we rejoice in his ministry. We rejoice in his word. We rejoice in that sacrificial offering himself upon the tree that we might be reconciled to God. And that when we approach the Son, we are not struck down in His wrath, but we're embraced in His love. And so we rejoice with trembling. What a wonderful, wonderful Christ. The world despise and reject Him. They're angry against Him. They want to be broken. They want to break away from all the authority of their lives. But we say no. By God's grace, we say no. God's grace, we say, no, He is my Lord and my God. I worship Him, I adore Him. And He's worthy of all of my affection. He's worthy of my heart. He's worthy of my life. So the psalm climaxes without those words, kiss the sun with the encouragement, blessed are all they that put their trust in Him. If this first book of the Psalter is about the confidence of the believer in their God, then these two opening Psalms, they serve very well as a preface to all that will follow. Verse one of Psalm one, blessed is the man. Verse 12 of Psalm two, blessed are all they that put their trust in him. Trust in the Lord tonight. You see this command to kiss the sun, It is a requirement of a continual action. Not just once, but continually. Tonight, tomorrow, and the days to come, continue to put your trust and confidence in Christ, the Son of God and the only Saviour of sinners. Amen. May God be pleased to encourage us again in his word this evening. May he help us to pray over these things. Let me call upon his name. Thank you for taking the time to listen to this episode of Let the Bible Speak from Malvern Free Presbyterian Church. If you'd like more information about the gospel or the church, please call 610-993-3170 or email malvernfpc at yahoo.com. We extend an invitation to all to join us as we worship the Lord each week. You will be made very welcome. The church is situated at 80 Mallon Road, Malvern, Pennsylvania, at the junction of 401 and Mallon Road. We meet for worship on the Lord's Day at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. A Bible study and prayer meeting is also held on Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. We preach Christ Crucified.