The NXR Podcast - SUNDAY SERMON - Christ Shall Break The Wicked With A Rod Of Iron - Psalm 2

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, real quick, before we get started, I have a small request.

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00:00:18.080 Our text again is Psalm chapter 2. God's Word says this,

00:00:22.920 Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?

00:00:25.960 The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying,

00:00:33.640 Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.

00:00:37.880 He who sits in the heavens laughs.

00:00:40.600 The Lord holds them in derision.

00:00:42.740 Then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury, saying,

00:00:47.660 As for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.

00:00:52.180 I will tell of the decree, the Lord said to me.

00:00:54.860 You are my son. Today I have begotten you.

00:00:59.120 Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession.

00:01:05.240 You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like the potter's vessel.

00:01:10.640 Now therefore, O kings, be wise. Be warned, O rulers of the earth.

00:01:15.900 Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.

00:01:19.680 Kiss the son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled.

00:01:26.540 Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

00:01:29.700 This is the word of the Lord.

00:01:31.980 All right, please be seated and join me as I pray.

00:01:35.200 Father, we thank you for your word.

00:01:36.880 And Father, I pray that indeed, through the preaching of your word, that your people would arrive at a greater knowledge of who you are,

00:01:43.880 of what you've done and what it is that you require of us as a proper response.

00:01:50.040 God, I pray that you would equip us now by the power of your spirit

00:01:53.040 with spiritual eyes to see, spiritual ears to hear,

00:01:57.140 new hearts that are softened and malleable and receptive to your truth.

00:02:02.760 And Father, we ask that you would be glorified in the preaching of your word.

00:02:08.280 God, we thank you for who you are.

00:02:10.900 We thank you for what you've done.

00:02:12.400 We thank you not only for your work, of course, in redemption through the person and work of your son, Jesus Christ,

00:02:17.940 but we thank you for your work even in creation, that you are a universal creator.

00:02:23.160 Your word does not teach universal fatherhood.

00:02:26.760 You are the father of only those who have union with your son, Christ,

00:02:30.480 who have been adopted by the Holy Spirit by grace through faith.

00:02:33.960 But you are a universal creator.

00:02:36.380 And you also teach in your word universal neighborhood,

00:02:39.320 that only those who are joined with Christ are our brothers or sisters in Christ,

00:02:45.900 but all people created in your image are our neighbors.

00:02:49.820 And so, Father, we recognize that your word has commandments.

00:02:55.300 It has repercussions.

00:02:56.780 It has precepts and expectations for the people of God.

00:03:01.360 But not only that, your word has expectations and commandments, requirements for all men.

00:03:07.520 Because although you are only the father of those who have faith in Jesus Christ,

00:03:11.580 you are the creator of all men.

00:03:13.760 And as the creator, you maintain rights and privileges as God.

00:03:18.840 All men are commanded to love you with all their heart, their soul, and their mind.

00:03:25.440 And all men are commanded to love their neighbor as themselves.

00:03:30.560 Lord, let us not buy into the temptation to think that when it comes to our unbelieving neighbor,

00:03:36.120 that your law has no expectation,

00:03:39.720 that your law has no commands over them.

00:03:43.960 Your law is given to all people,

00:03:46.440 not just believers, not just your people,

00:03:49.080 but all people, for all have been created by you.

00:03:52.780 You are their God.

00:03:55.120 You are the Lord of all the earth,

00:03:57.600 whether we recognize that lordship or not.

00:04:01.300 So Father, I thank you for these men and women

00:04:03.620 and children today.

00:04:04.720 I thank you for those who have recognized by grace your lordship overall.

00:04:10.860 We thank you that Christ is not merely the head of the church,

00:04:13.920 but that he is, according to Ephesians and Colossians, the head of all things.

00:04:19.120 We thank you that he is now presently seated at your right hand, Father,

00:04:23.720 and that he is ruling and reigning,

00:04:26.840 and that one by one his enemies are being made a footstool for his feet.

00:04:31.800 We thank you for Jesus, the lamb who was slain for the forgiveness of sins.

00:04:37.180 But we thank you also for Jesus, the lion who reigns in glory and in power and majesty and in triumph.

00:04:46.560 Father, we pray that we would see these things and rejoice in them.

00:04:50.480 that we would be glad, that there would be a healthy fear of you,

00:04:57.380 a righteous trembling, but a joyful trembling,

00:05:01.960 a trembling with gladness as we see the rule and reign of Christ in your word today.

00:05:08.680 We pray that you would bless all these things for our good and for your glory.

00:05:13.260 In Jesus' name, amen.

00:05:16.540 As a way of a background for our text today, Psalm chapter 2,

00:05:20.220 I've written your notes the following. Psalm chapter 2 fits together in an interesting way

00:05:25.180 with Psalm chapter 1 that we saw last Lord's Day in order to introduce the book of Psalms as a whole.

00:05:31.740 In Psalm chapter 1, if you remember, the righteous man is described as the one who meditates on God's

00:05:37.620 law. Meditates on God's law. That is, he thinks deeply and he thinks biblically about the law

00:05:44.940 of God. In Psalm chapter two, the wicked are the ones who meditate. There's the same kind of

00:05:50.980 language. The wicked are the ones who they are thinking deeply. They are meditating. The word

00:05:56.880 that we find in the text is they're plotting, they're planning, they're strategizing, but it's

00:06:01.120 the same Hebrew word as meditating. They are thinking, conspiring. However, for the wicked,

00:06:08.260 what they meditate on is not the law of God and how they can surrender to God, how they can submit

00:06:13.780 to God's will, how they can be obedient and pleasing to God, but rather they, the wicked,

00:06:18.900 are meditating on how to cast off the law of God, on how to break apart God's bonds,

00:06:28.060 God's rights, God's lordship over all men as a creator of all things. So the righteous in Psalm

00:06:36.140 chapter 1 is a meditating man. He meditates night and day, day and night, because he delights in

00:06:43.020 law of God. I spoke about that last week. I said it's not just a begrudging obligation. It's not

00:06:49.420 that he simply meditates on the law of God day and night because he has to, because it's right

00:06:55.300 to. But the wonderful thing about our God is that which is right for man is also that which is good

00:07:02.420 for man. That which makes man holy is also that which makes man happy. And so he delights. He is

00:07:10.060 the blessed man. He's a righteous man, but he's a blessed man. That is, he is a happy man. He is

00:07:16.780 happy in God and therefore happy in God's law, which is merely a reflection of who God is. And

00:07:24.580 because he's happy in God and therefore happy in the law of God, he cannot help. Certainly there

00:07:30.200 are times where discipline might get him through valleys, dry seasons, but by and large, it is his

00:07:37.720 happiness in God and his delight therefore in the law of God that causes him to meditate to think

00:07:43.360 deeply upon God's law day and night. It's important for us to recognize when it comes again to

00:07:48.620 Christian meditation it's not the emptying of the mind and the full surrender to our feelings but

00:07:54.880 rather Christian meditation is rational. It's filled with great mental discipline. It is not to empty

00:08:02.240 the mind of all rational thought but rather to feast the mind and focus the mind on substance

00:08:08.140 on content namely the word of God so the Christian man is he's thinking deeply upon the word of God

00:08:15.700 and I believe that sadly this is a lost practice in the church today we have plenty of Christians

00:08:21.700 those who profess Christ who barely read the word of God and then we have those who who have a

00:08:27.980 regular time, a regular rhythm developed over years, perhaps even decades, so they've been

00:08:32.260 walking with God, and they read the law of God, they read the Word of God day and night, they read

00:08:38.300 God's Word regularly. But to read God's law, to read God's Word, is not synonymous with meditating

00:08:45.540 on God's Word. We might even go further. Some Christians would boast, perhaps, of not only

00:08:51.060 their daily quiet time, they might call it their daily time in the Word, reading the Word, but some

00:08:56.180 Christians would even memorize the Word, which is a very biblical and wonderful practice for

00:09:01.320 Christians to commit themselves to. They would not only read the Word of God, they would memorize

00:09:05.840 the Word of God. But memorizing the Word of God is still not yet arriving at meditating upon the

00:09:11.900 Word of God day and night. Now, memorizing the Word of God is very helpful for meditation because

00:09:17.180 it allows us throughout our day, without having a literal open Bible before us, to think deeply upon

00:09:23.100 the Word of God, which we've committed to our memory.

00:09:26.220 But there are many Christians who read the Word of God

00:09:28.700 and even memorize the Word of God,

00:09:31.300 but they do not meditate on the Word of God.

00:09:34.380 In short, many Christians today are not thinking Christians.

00:09:39.860 The church is absent of serious thought.

00:09:45.980 The church is a place of feeling and emotion,

00:09:49.500 but not deep and profound thought about the word of God.

00:09:54.040 To meditate on God's law day and night

00:09:56.440 is to think deeply about the law of God.

00:09:59.500 Why is it holy?

00:10:00.820 Why is it righteous?

00:10:02.160 Why is it good?

00:10:03.580 Why is a man who delights in the law of God a blessed man?

00:10:07.800 What is it about the law of God that works in the world?

00:10:10.440 We live in God's world

00:10:11.760 and God has rules for his world that we live in.

00:10:15.300 And they work.

00:10:16.600 Why does it work?

00:10:17.920 thinking deeply, meditating upon the law of God.

00:10:21.140 Why is this righteous and why is this wicked

00:10:23.600 and how can I delight more in this

00:10:26.020 and what are the implications

00:10:27.500 and the practical applications of God's law?

00:10:32.000 If a society were to obey God's law in this way,

00:10:35.140 what would it mean?

00:10:36.400 What are those things at the level of politics even?

00:10:39.600 The things that, not just in the home or the church,

00:10:42.000 but in the civil realm that are outside of the law of God

00:10:45.240 that are causing our nation to crumble.

00:10:47.480 This is to meditate upon the law of God.

00:10:50.080 It is to think deeply upon God's law.

00:10:53.840 And what we see in our text today, Psalm chapter 2, is the exact reverse.

00:10:58.460 We see the same word to plot, to think, to dwell, to meditate.

00:11:03.760 Except now we see the meditation of the wicked.

00:11:08.260 And again, recognize the word meditate.

00:11:10.320 It's not that mantra meditation, pagan meditation that we see in our culture today.

00:11:17.080 that we've seen even seep into Christian churches today.

00:11:21.200 It's not mantra pagan meditation that seeks to empty the mind

00:11:25.060 and somehow become one with the God of the universe,

00:11:27.920 to be one with everything so that we might be one with the God who created everything.

00:11:32.360 Mantra meditation, in a nutshell, is this.

00:11:35.160 It seeks the experience of being one with God.

00:11:38.760 Christian meditation seeks the experience of knowing God.

00:11:42.960 In Christian meditation, thinking deeply upon God's word day and night,

00:11:46.760 We seek to know God.

00:11:49.120 Mantra meditation seeks in an idolatrous fashion

00:11:51.760 to elevate man in such a way that he becomes,

00:11:54.760 he finds himself on an equal plane with God.

00:11:57.660 He becomes a contemporary of God.

00:12:01.960 But it's idolatrous.

00:12:03.520 It's pagan.

00:12:04.140 It's not Christian.

00:12:05.340 And notice in Psalm chapter 2,

00:12:07.280 the meditation that we find is plotting the wicked plot.

00:12:10.940 It's the same kind of meditation as Christian meditation.

00:12:13.820 They're simply plotting, meditating, thinking deeply about the wrong things.

00:12:19.940 What I mean by that is in Psalm chapter 2, the wicked, they're not practicing mantra meditation.

00:12:25.180 They're not emptying their minds.

00:12:27.780 They're not just sitting and trying to somehow work themselves into a transcendental state to become one with everything.

00:12:33.760 No, it's focused energy.

00:12:36.280 They're taking every single brain cell God's given them

00:12:40.020 and working it against the God who gave them that intellectual prowess.

00:12:45.020 The wicked are thinking deeply.

00:12:47.560 The problem is that they are thinking deeply about precisely the opposite thing

00:12:52.040 that the righteous are thinking about.

00:12:53.780 The righteous are thinking about the law of God,

00:12:57.140 its holiness, its rightness, if you will, but also its goodness.

00:13:02.340 The righteous are meditating day and night, thinking deeply upon the law of God,

00:13:06.400 how it is both right and how it is good.

00:13:09.280 How the law of God, when obeyed by man, causes him to be not only a righteous man,

00:13:14.460 but also the blessed man, a holy man and a happy man.

00:13:18.760 That's what the righteous are committing their thoughts to.

00:13:22.440 That's the type of meditation that the righteous are practicing.

00:13:25.180 Deep thought about the law of God, its goodness and its holiness,

00:13:29.840 and how submission to God's law,

00:13:33.060 further surrendering to God's lordship in all things is wonderful.

00:13:38.540 That's the meditation, the profound thought of the Christian.

00:13:43.020 The meditation of the wicked is precisely, again, the opposite.

00:13:47.840 It is thinking how, in what way,

00:13:50.140 they could somehow sever the bonds, the lordship,

00:13:53.720 the rights of God over them as creator.

00:13:56.460 How can we get out, out from underneath?

00:13:59.840 restraint by the law of God. They see the law of God as wicked and perverse and harmful to their

00:14:08.940 own good, as a giant hindrance to their own godless agenda. How can we somehow remove ourselves from

00:14:19.740 underneath the sovereign rule of God and the extension of his lordship and law? How can we

00:14:27.280 somehow find freedom from this restraint underneath the commands of God. So the righteous,

00:14:36.060 they plot, they think, they meditate on the goodness of God's law. The wicked plot and think

00:14:42.920 and meditate on the way that God's law is somehow a hindrance to their true joy and happiness and

00:14:52.020 how they could somehow get away from it.

00:14:54.900 How they can somehow sever the bonds of God's kingly rule over them.

00:15:03.020 And yet, we see God's response.

00:15:07.800 God is not frantic.

00:15:10.140 He's not concerned.

00:15:12.080 He's not worried.

00:15:15.200 He who sits in the heavens laughs and holds them in derision.

00:15:22.020 Going on in your notes, underneath background, I've written this.

00:15:26.860 Psalm chapter 2 is structured as a dramatic presentation of sorts.

00:15:31.960 And it's presented in three distinct acts.

00:15:35.680 Act number 1 is verses 1 through 3, where we see that the nations have chosen to rebel against God.

00:15:42.100 They have conspired against His rule and reign.

00:15:45.360 act chapter 2 verses 4 through 9 we see that God remains sovereign and has a predetermined plan to

00:15:51.840 judge man's rebellion God has a strategy God has his own way of dealing with the rebellion

00:16:00.680 the plotting the planning of the wicked then in act chapter act 3 verses 10 through 12 of our text

00:16:10.560 we see the absolute necessity for every man to submit to God while there is still time.

00:16:17.480 I use the word necessity, but perhaps the better word would be this, urgency.

00:16:23.020 That there is an urgency to kiss the Son, that is, the Son of God, Jesus Christ,

00:16:29.900 He who rules the nations with an iron scepter, to kiss the Son lest He be angry.

00:16:36.120 For His wrath is quickly kindled.

00:16:40.560 And we'll speak about that in a moment because that seems to fly in the face of what we know about the anger of God.

00:16:46.180 That he is slow to anger.

00:16:48.640 So I'll go into more detail with that particular point in Act 3 of our text, verses 10 through 12 toward the end.

00:16:56.680 Act 1, verses 1 through 3.

00:16:59.860 I've written this in your notes.

00:17:01.280 To understand this psalm, we must realize that on one level, it particularly applies to King David.

00:17:07.060 The schemes of these rulers against the Lord and his anointed are rooted in a time in David's reign

00:17:13.620 when many of the surrounding nations sought to rebel against Israel, David's kingship.

00:17:21.380 David, the Lord's anointed king over his people Israel, writes this psalm

00:17:28.260 to show the folly of rebellion against God's anointed king

00:17:32.120 because of the promises God had made to that king.

00:17:36.580 Thus, on one level, these first three verses refer to those rebel kings

00:17:41.500 and their attempts to shake off David's rule over them.

00:17:45.400 However, Psalm chapter 2 goes far beyond David's experience.

00:17:49.140 It is ultimately fulfilled only in God's true anointed, the Lord Jesus Christ.

00:17:55.320 Thus, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,

00:17:58.080 David wrote this psalm not only about himself,

00:18:00.960 but in a deeper and much more complete way about the Messiah, Jesus.

00:18:07.000 Just as these kings rebelled against King David,

00:18:10.040 so all men have rebelled against King Jesus.

00:18:14.520 Verses 1 through 3 of our text, let me read them once more so they're fresh in our mind.

00:18:19.260 The word says this,

00:18:20.560 Why do the nations rage and the people plot in vain?

00:18:24.520 The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together

00:18:28.860 against the Lord and against His anointed,

00:18:31.480 saying, let us burst their bonds apart

00:18:33.840 and cast away their cords from us.

00:18:37.560 The nations surrounding David at the time,

00:18:40.060 they're saying, how can we somehow

00:18:41.440 be independent from Israel?

00:18:44.500 We don't want to pay homage

00:18:46.500 to King David in Israel.

00:18:49.500 We don't want to owe them anything.

00:18:51.980 How can we cast off our obligation

00:18:54.640 to this great king and this great nation?

00:18:57.740 And so, too, all men conspire, they meditate, they plot, how can I somehow remove any sense

00:19:04.940 of obligation or dependency on King Jesus?

00:19:09.600 How can I somehow become independent from God?

00:19:13.640 How can I somehow become autonomous?

00:19:17.520 See, again, the comparison between Psalm 1, the righteous man who meditates day and night

00:19:23.380 on the law of God, and Psalm 2, the wicked who plot in vain.

00:19:27.540 how they can somehow get out from underneath the law of God,

00:19:30.760 the comparison is striking.

00:19:33.580 Because autonomy literally means man's law.

00:19:38.920 Autonomy speaks about law.

00:19:41.980 It is in direct contrast to, for instance, theonomy.

00:19:46.460 Theonomy is God's law.

00:19:49.320 Now, obviously, in the church history and theology,

00:19:53.320 there are multiple expressions of theonomy.

00:19:57.360 Some I would disagree with.

00:19:59.620 Some, I think, are profound and have been dismissed by the church today,

00:20:04.780 and I think mostly because of the fear of man and cowardice.

00:20:07.920 At the end of the day, theonomy simply means God's law.

00:20:10.680 And given the choice between God's law and autonomy, man's law, I choose God's law.

00:20:16.440 We see man's law.

00:20:17.920 We see it legislated.

00:20:19.140 We see it in action.

00:20:21.080 Man's law leads to the death of 60 million children murdered in their mother's womb in the last 48 years.

00:20:27.020 I'll take God's law.

00:20:29.840 I like what Doug Wilson says

00:20:31.800 in terms of imposing morality

00:20:33.780 through legislation, through law.

00:20:36.500 At the end of the day,

00:20:38.040 all law is, is the imposing of morality.

00:20:42.800 It's either the abortion doctor

00:20:44.980 and the mother imposing their morality

00:20:46.860 on the child,

00:20:48.740 ending in their death and murder,

00:20:50.900 or it's imposing God's law

00:20:54.980 and morality on the abortion doctor and the mother,

00:20:58.120 namely your murderers,

00:21:00.520 and guilty for the penalty of a murderer.

00:21:04.840 At the end of the day, all we ever do is impose our morality.

00:21:09.080 So to buy in, I think Christians, we cave far too quickly.

00:21:14.680 Secularism has gone unchecked in our nation for a long time,

00:21:18.540 and I think part of it is because Christians have surrendered on certain points.

00:21:23.820 We've surrendered at the point of God's law, theonomy.

00:21:27.720 We've surrendered at the point of two-kingdom theology.

00:21:32.460 It's just about the church, the home in the church,

00:21:36.120 or the lordship of Jesus on the lordship issue.

00:21:40.000 We say, well, Jesus is lord of what?

00:21:41.980 My heart.

00:21:43.180 No, he's not.

00:21:46.100 Jesus' lordship, his rule, his reign, his dominion,

00:21:48.820 it goes a lot further than your precious little heart.

00:21:52.160 He is the Lord of your heart, but he's also the Lord of all.

00:21:57.420 And Jesus is not content to be quarantined in his kingdom to the realm of your little heart.

00:22:06.260 Jesus is Lord of all.

00:22:08.940 And you'll either bless him or curse him.

00:22:11.720 You'll either love him or hate him.

00:22:13.320 But Jesus is your Lord, whether you admit his lordship or not.

00:22:18.980 and so this idea that jesus is lord of all that we're living in god's world in the father's world

00:22:25.640 and he has set his anointed one on zion his holy hill he has elevated him to the highest place

00:22:33.860 that anyone could ever be at the right hand of the father in the ascension he has crowned him

00:22:39.420 with many diadems with all honor all splendor all majesty and that jesus christ is currently

00:22:45.520 ruling and reigning and he is not merely the head of your family or the head of the church

00:22:50.320 he is the head of all things the church has missed this and so we acquiesce we surrender

00:22:58.720 valuable ground we say well i yeah i don't want a christian nation because i know that would be

00:23:05.360 imposing what other nation do you want neutrality is a myth neutrality is a myth so we can look to

00:23:13.900 Christian nations and we can see what we should consider a bug rather than the feature. We can

00:23:21.340 see the crusades. We can look to Christian nations. We can see weaknesses. We can see glaring failures

00:23:28.840 where things went wrong. But we can see from God's word how that was deterring from the law of God

00:23:35.680 rather than fulfilling it. It was a bug, not a feature. But at some point, Christians need to

00:23:40.960 call secularism to account.

00:23:45.520 Because it was not

00:23:46.820 Christianity that

00:23:48.960 brought about the Holocaust.

00:23:51.400 Christianity is not responsible

00:23:52.900 for Mao. Christianity

00:23:54.720 is not responsible for what's currently going

00:23:56.880 on in China. Christianity is not

00:23:58.760 responsible for abortion.

00:24:01.160 So at the end of the day, whatever

00:24:02.620 worldview you have, there is

00:24:04.640 an allegiance. Christ says

00:24:06.960 you're either for me or against

00:24:08.860 me.

00:24:10.960 There is no neutrality, and this is another area, an important area that Christians have surrendered.

00:24:20.660 Oh, well, we don't want a Christian to say, because that wouldn't be fair, so let's have a neutral one.

00:24:26.200 There's no such thing.

00:24:28.580 There's no such thing.

00:24:30.040 Neutrality is a myth.

00:24:31.860 Every single person is radically influenced by their own presuppositions about the world.

00:24:38.820 What do you believe?

00:24:40.780 Politics is downstream of culture and morality.

00:24:44.500 Morality and culture ultimately is downstream from theology.

00:24:49.660 What do you believe about God?

00:24:52.300 And in light of that, what do you believe about man?

00:24:54.960 The reason why our nation has so many checks and balances in its government,

00:24:59.900 which currently right now rulers are plotting, how can we cast off restraint?

00:25:06.080 Exactly our text. We see the fulfillment of it even now.

00:25:09.200 How can we cast off the Constitution?

00:25:12.720 Now, the Constitution is not a one-to-one ratio of the law of God,

00:25:16.440 but it was written by men who acknowledged the law of God.

00:25:20.620 That's not to say that none of these men had wrong views,

00:25:24.320 and some of them were perhaps even heretics.

00:25:27.180 But at the end of the day, the work that we have with civil freedom

00:25:30.600 and checks and balances and free speech and all these kinds of things,

00:25:34.740 a lot of it comes from ultimately John Locke.

00:25:37.040 And John Locke was influenced by guys like John Adams.

00:25:40.460 And ultimately, you trace it down and down and down.

00:25:43.000 It really works its way back to all the way to Athanasius and to Augustine,

00:25:47.600 which ultimately gets all the way back to Paul, meaning the Holy Spirit, God.

00:25:53.480 That's where it comes from.

00:25:55.680 But why does freedom of speech, for instance, come from God?

00:25:59.360 Because James tells us that the law of God is the law of liberty.

00:26:04.180 See, the law of God is the only place where true freedom is found.

00:26:12.820 Freedom is not a free for all.

00:26:16.040 True freedom is not the ability to do whatever you want.

00:26:19.220 True freedom is the ability to obey the law of God.

00:26:23.620 See, the wicked think they're free.

00:26:26.100 But the wicked, according to Christ, are the ones who are actually enslaved.

00:26:29.640 To what?

00:26:30.000 Rather than in obligation surrender to God's law as master, the wicked are enslaved to sin.

00:26:38.800 Their lust, their passions, the evil desires of their heart.

00:26:43.820 They think they're free, but they're not.

00:26:45.820 Because true freedom is not the ability to sin as the wicked think it is.

00:26:52.200 True freedom is the ability, the freedom to obey.

00:26:56.180 if any man is in Christ

00:26:59.260 he is a new creation

00:27:00.620 and who the son sets free

00:27:03.980 is free indeed

00:27:05.460 free to obey

00:27:07.360 free to kiss the son

00:27:09.320 while there's still time

00:27:10.680 lest he be angry

00:27:11.940 free to surrender to his good

00:27:14.180 and righteous and kind rule

00:27:17.460 that's the freedom

00:27:19.640 the true freedom

00:27:21.740 that the word of God speaks of

00:27:24.080 and that's the freedom that Christians

00:27:25.960 should love. And that freedom only comes from a Christian worldview. That freedom ultimately

00:27:32.040 only comes from regenerate hearts. But those of us who by God's grace are regenerate, we should

00:27:39.000 take what God has done in our hearts and seek for his lordship and his goodness to expand and advance

00:27:46.180 in all the earth. We're called to disciple the nations. We're called to disciple not just

00:27:52.420 individuals but nations and i think the problem is that many of us have just not simply followed

00:28:00.500 the train of logic to its final destination when it comes to the great commission go therefore and

00:28:07.660 make disciples of all nations baptizing them into the name of the father and of the son and of the

00:28:12.700 holy spirit and we always forget this last part and teaching them to obey all my commands so the

00:28:19.580 Great Commission that every evangelical would agree on, it involves not merely conversions and

00:28:26.540 baptisms, but discipleship. And the beauty of the Great Commission is that Jesus, whom all authority

00:28:32.980 is his, when he gives the Great Commission, he does not leave the task of defining discipleship

00:28:40.700 up to you and I. He defines it for us. What does it mean to make disciples? Teaching them to obey

00:28:48.420 all my commands,

00:28:51.280 teaching them my law

00:28:52.800 and requiring obedience

00:28:57.000 to my law.

00:28:59.100 Now think about that.

00:29:00.880 If we are to fulfill

00:29:02.640 the Great Commission,

00:29:03.900 it involves discipling the nations.

00:29:06.520 And what does it mean

00:29:07.380 to disciple the nations?

00:29:09.000 It means teaching them

00:29:10.260 to obey all the commandments

00:29:11.960 of Jesus.

00:29:13.560 So what's the practical conclusion?

00:29:16.180 Christian nations

00:29:18.580 Christian legislation

00:29:21.060 see the reason why we don't like theonomy

00:29:24.160 or the reason why we don't like the idea of a Christian nation

00:29:26.800 the reason we don't like these

00:29:27.740 it's because at the end of the day

00:29:29.160 we don't believe that the Great Commission is viable

00:29:32.460 at the end of the day

00:29:35.040 we don't think it'll work

00:29:36.680 but what's so important for us

00:29:40.960 to cross-reference

00:29:42.200 to connect together

00:29:43.560 two particular texts

00:29:44.580 is the Great Commission

00:29:45.760 which I've just explained

00:29:48.880 but also where Christ says

00:29:51.140 I will build my church

00:29:54.300 and the gates of hell

00:29:56.800 will not prevail against it.

00:29:58.680 You guys have heard me say before

00:29:59.980 I'll say it once more

00:30:01.020 the gates of hell

00:30:03.200 are not an offensive weapon.

00:30:06.700 Jesus doesn't say

00:30:07.860 I will defend my church

00:30:10.340 I will protect my church

00:30:13.960 I will make sure, ensure that my church survives

00:30:17.900 and the battering ram of hell will not prevail.

00:30:23.540 But that's what we think.

00:30:25.700 But that's not what Jesus said.

00:30:27.680 So we think that the church is on the ropes

00:30:29.800 and Jesus has promised that we'll be able to go all 10 rounds

00:30:34.680 and make the bell without ultimately going unconscious

00:30:37.840 and being humiliated in defeat.

00:30:40.180 but at the end of the day we're still going to lose

00:30:43.740 we're just going to be able to barely stand

00:30:48.000 to the end of the match

00:30:49.180 but that's not what Jesus says

00:30:51.840 Jesus says not I will protect my church or salvage my church

00:30:55.940 or ensure its survival

00:30:57.760 and the battering rams of hell will not prevail against it

00:31:00.980 rather it's the very reverse language

00:31:03.640 Jesus says I will build, advance, expand my church

00:31:08.160 The church is on the offense, and the defense, the gates of hell, will not be able to stand up.

00:31:15.980 Hell can't make all ten rounds, because Jesus is ultimately the boxer in the ring,

00:31:21.700 and the church is his right and left arm.

00:31:26.120 The church is the battering ram being used by Christ Jesus, the true champion, the true boxer, the true warrior,

00:31:34.500 and hell won't be able to last.

00:31:36.980 hell ultimately will go down for the count so if we believe that jesus will build his church

00:31:45.860 it will advance and nothing even the power of hell no scheme of man no power of hell will be able to

00:31:53.860 ultimately resist the expansion advancement and building of christ's church and then we take that

00:32:01.520 And we simply ask the question, how does Christ build his church?

00:32:06.220 And cross-reference over to the Great Commission,

00:32:08.800 go and disciple the nations by baptizing them into the name of the triune God

00:32:13.880 and teaching them about my law and their obligation of obedience to my law.

00:32:21.000 Then what's the logical?

00:32:24.000 Certainly it's biblical, and we could spend lots of time on that,

00:32:26.820 but merely logical conclusion, Christian nations.

00:32:31.520 Christian legislation, Christian laws.

00:32:35.780 And it's not crazy.

00:32:38.000 We used to have the Ten Commandments,

00:32:40.480 I believe we still do,

00:32:42.240 on the courthouse.

00:32:44.000 Has that been removed?

00:32:46.160 Anybody know?

00:32:47.600 It's still there.

00:32:48.580 Ten Commandments on the courthouse.

00:32:50.560 Why?

00:32:51.860 Because it's God's law or man's law.

00:32:55.940 Theonomy, which needs to be carefully defined,

00:32:58.900 you can get a little bit crazy with it,

00:33:00.320 but theonomy or autonomy.

00:33:03.620 And my point all the way back to our text

00:33:05.420 in the first three verses is this.

00:33:07.520 Autonomy, man's law,

00:33:10.160 the way we often use the word autonomy,

00:33:12.260 and it's a correct use of the word,

00:33:13.640 is talking about independence, individualism.

00:33:17.760 I'm autonomous, meaning what?

00:33:19.680 I'm not dependent on anyone

00:33:21.340 and I'm not underneath the restraint

00:33:23.420 or the commands or the rule of anyone.

00:33:27.980 See, that's what man's law is all about.

00:33:31.140 Autonomy, man's law, it's all about independence.

00:33:34.160 It's all about plotting, meditating, thinking, conspiring.

00:33:39.460 How can I cast off the bonds of God?

00:33:44.680 So the righteous man, Psalm chapter 1, he meditates day and night.

00:33:48.180 He doesn't just read the word.

00:33:49.320 He doesn't just memorize the word, but he meditates.

00:33:51.480 He thinks on the law of God, its rightness and its goodness.

00:33:56.440 He is the righteous man, but also the happy man, the blessed man.

00:34:01.380 And he is thinking, how can I further submit myself, commit myself to God's good rule?

00:34:08.280 The wicked man conversely meditates.

00:34:11.020 He is thinking deeply about God, about God's law, and how he can somehow get out from underneath it.

00:34:17.820 How he can somehow cut the bonds, sever the cords, somehow find autonomy.

00:34:24.880 Man's law, man's independence.

00:34:29.180 So how does God respond?

00:34:32.420 Verses 4 through 9 of our text, in Act 2, I've written this in your notes,

00:34:37.280 God has a calm assurance in the midst of man's rebellion.

00:34:41.740 Verse 4 of our text reveals that God does not even bother to get up from his throne.

00:34:46.080 He who sits in the heavens laughs, and the Lord holds them in derision.

00:34:53.300 This certainty does not mean that God finds man's rebellion

00:34:56.900 and its devastating results to be comical.

00:35:00.240 The laughter of God here does not reflect God taking delight or pleasure in man's rebellion.

00:35:06.720 For Ezekiel chapter 33 verse 11 says,

00:35:08.900 God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, much less his wicked deeds,

00:35:13.080 but not even the death of the wicked, which is what he deserves,

00:35:17.500 but rather that the wicked should turn from his way and live.

00:35:22.360 God's laughter in our text is not meant to reflect

00:35:24.500 God's taking pleasure in man's rebellion.

00:35:27.600 But rather, it's meant to reflect the laughter of God,

00:35:31.200 the sheer folly and futility of man's rebellion.

00:35:37.340 It's like a father telling his two-year-old son,

00:35:42.800 no, you cannot have a fourth cookie.

00:35:48.500 You only got three because mom was gone.

00:35:51.600 and I'm a bit of a sucker.

00:35:54.120 But we have to draw the line somewhere.

00:35:56.580 There's got to be some law and order in this house,

00:35:59.480 and as for me and my house,

00:36:01.180 we shall have no more than three cookies.

00:36:03.480 A fourth cookie is just, it's off limits.

00:36:05.940 It's out of the question.

00:36:07.760 And suppose, imagine with me,

00:36:10.580 that that toddler's response is just this unsanctified rebellion,

00:36:16.820 and it begins to hit at the father's knees

00:36:19.540 because they only come up about two feet high.

00:36:21.600 now the father might find himself

00:36:24.860 chuckling a bit

00:36:27.040 but if he's a good father

00:36:29.900 hopefully if he's a good father

00:36:30.980 this wouldn't even take place

00:36:32.220 the idea of a child

00:36:35.580 hitting their parent when they tell them no

00:36:37.580 hopefully there's been already

00:36:38.980 even in the first two years of that child's life

00:36:40.900 enough discipline to where this wouldn't even happen

00:36:43.020 but let's say it does

00:36:44.240 let's say for some reason it's a one off event

00:36:47.300 it's never happened before

00:36:48.480 the father has been faithful to discipline the child

00:36:50.960 and somehow the child just had a crazy idea.

00:36:55.760 Or those three cookies have just really just drawn out

00:36:59.760 the full depths of total depravity in that child's heart.

00:37:02.640 One way or the other, let's imagine the child is hitting the father's knees,

00:37:07.060 striking and punching and blowing at the father's knees,

00:37:09.720 and the father chuckles.

00:37:11.900 If it's a sanctified, holy, Christian father,

00:37:13.960 he is not relishing or taking pleasure in the rebellion of the child,

00:37:20.420 Laughing with a sense of joy.

00:37:22.580 I love that my child, when being told no by one of the chief earthly authorities in this child's life,

00:37:31.300 instinctively responds with physical aggression.

00:37:35.140 I love that.

00:37:35.820 And it just makes me laugh.

00:37:37.140 I just take so much pleasure in my child's rebellion.

00:37:40.420 No.

00:37:40.660 No, the laughter of the father in that moment, it would reflect not taking pleasure in the child's rebellion,

00:37:47.800 but rather it would reflect the sheer futility of the child's attempt

00:37:53.340 to physically overpower the father and get their way.

00:37:57.700 That's what it reflects.

00:37:59.320 And so too, he who sits in the heavens laughs.

00:38:02.800 This laughter is a holy laughter, not a wicked laughter, God forbid,

00:38:07.500 that would relish in pleasure at the wicked, their deeds,

00:38:12.580 But rather, it merely reflects the futility and the folly of the wicked attempting in any way to somehow get the upper hand against God Almighty.

00:38:33.300 God's laughter in our text is not meant to reflect the taking pleasure in man's rebellion, but rather the absolute folly and futility of man's rebellion.

00:38:41.540 God removes kings and establishes kings.

00:38:44.540 Daniel chapter 2 verse 21.

00:38:46.740 The mighty Nebuchadnezzar even, the greatest ruler on earth in his day,

00:38:51.460 grew proud and attributed his greatness to himself.

00:38:54.540 But God humbled him by afflicting his mind with insanity

00:38:57.700 so that he lived in the fields and ate grass like a beast

00:39:01.300 until he learned, and this is what Nebuchadnezzar says

00:39:05.080 when he's finally restored to his right state of mind.

00:39:08.480 The Most High is a ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever he wishes.

00:39:16.460 Daniel 4, verse 25.

00:39:18.500 See, God not only has a calm assurance in the midst of man's rebellion,

00:39:22.840 but he also has, our chapter tells us,

00:39:28.260 a predetermined plan for dealing with man's rebellion,

00:39:33.820 which we see in verses 7 through 9.

00:39:36.680 See, God's predetermined plan for dealing with man's rebellion,

00:39:40.060 it's ultimately found in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

00:39:44.020 God sent his son into the world to pay the penalty for man's rebellion,

00:39:48.260 according to John 3.16, Galatians 4.4.

00:39:52.020 And Jesus died according to the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God

00:39:57.320 at the hands of godless, wicked men.

00:40:00.420 Acts 2.23, Acts 4.27-28.

00:40:05.020 And God raised this Jesus up from the dead and he ascended to heaven where he is now waiting to return.

00:40:13.900 Jesus Christ will return bodily to this earth in power and glory to rescue all his people and to crush all his opposition.

00:40:22.600 John describes this vision of the Lord Jesus in that great day in Revelation chapter 19, verse 15 through 16, which says this.

00:40:31.560 And from his mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it he may smite the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron.

00:40:41.600 And he treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty.

00:40:46.660 And on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

00:40:55.700 Jesus is the true anointed.

00:40:58.460 God has set him up.

00:41:01.560 on His holy mountain.

00:41:03.780 He rules, He reigns,

00:41:06.140 and He who came as the Lamb to die

00:41:09.780 will return as the Lion to conquer.

00:41:15.960 And what I want you to see,

00:41:17.440 we don't have enough time,

00:41:18.440 I've spent too much time on other things,

00:41:19.980 but I want you to see very briefly,

00:41:22.600 God, He's sitting in the heavens,

00:41:24.760 He has a calm demeanor, a calm posture,

00:41:27.740 He's not concerned, He's not threatened,

00:41:30.160 And as man conspires on earth, the kings and counselors of the world joining forces,

00:41:36.380 thinking about how they can somehow gain autonomy, man's law and man's independence

00:41:41.760 from God's universal creatorship and his holy law and rule.

00:41:46.360 As all this is happening, God is at peace with himself.

00:41:50.760 He is not concerned, but not only does he possess this calm posture

00:41:55.120 to where he sits in heaven and laughs at man's futility,

00:41:59.280 but he has a predetermined plan for dealing with it.

00:42:03.180 And notice this, the way that God Almighty deals with his opposition,

00:42:10.280 conspiring to overcome him, conspiring to gain the upper hand,

00:42:15.600 the precise way that God ultimately deals with the plots of the wicked against him

00:42:21.260 is by using the wicked themselves as key players in their own destruction.

00:42:30.380 Acts chapter 2 and Acts chapter 4, we see that God is the one

00:42:34.940 who predestined that Jesus would die at the hands of wicked men.

00:42:42.300 These men attempting ultimately to cast off the rule of God

00:42:48.920 are actually putting in the final nail into their own coffin.

00:42:56.340 Even Satan, not just men of this earth,

00:42:59.360 but principalities, powers, cosmic, spiritual.

00:43:06.040 Satan himself, thinking that he somehow had gained the upper hand

00:43:10.840 at the death of Jesus, relishing in the thought that he had somehow won,

00:43:15.540 not realizing that he actually sealed his own doom and demise.

00:43:22.340 So it's not only that God has a calm disposition,

00:43:25.380 and it's not only that God possesses a predetermined plan for dealing with man's rebellion,

00:43:29.880 but God in his infinite wisdom uses his own opposition to defeat themselves.

00:43:39.320 That's our God.

00:43:41.180 That's why he sits in the heavens and laughs.

00:43:44.140 He doesn't bother to get up to squash his opposition

00:43:46.880 because he's so infinitely wise,

00:43:49.480 he has predetermined that his opposition will squash itself.

00:43:54.740 That they actually will be the ones who fulfill God's ultimate plan

00:43:59.640 in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

00:44:02.860 And then Christ himself will return in glory,

00:44:06.380 King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

00:44:09.200 Act 3, verses 10 through 12.

00:44:11.480 I've written this in your notes.

00:44:12.460 It is not just the proud kings of David's day who have rebelled against the Lord and His anointed.

00:44:18.680 All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

00:44:21.480 Romans chapter 3 verse 23 says,

00:44:24.080 We have all in our own way fulfilled verse 3 of our text.

00:44:28.380 We have all said towards God,

00:44:30.360 Let us tear His fetters apart and cast away His cords from us.

00:44:35.240 The only time in all of history where God took on flesh and made Himself vulnerable,

00:44:40.960 where we could actually touch him.

00:44:45.120 Humanity seized as an opportunity to kill the Lord of glory.

00:44:50.780 By the way that Jesus is often described in churches today,

00:44:54.500 you would think that everyone would welcome this Messiah

00:44:56.960 who came to save us from our sins.

00:45:00.480 However, the issue is not salvation.

00:45:02.460 The issue is lordship.

00:45:04.320 The Lord's anointed is not merely the lamb who saves,

00:45:07.240 but the lion who will reign.

00:45:08.700 If not by our own willful submission now, then by our forced submission when he returns.

00:45:16.760 Jesus does not live to serve our will.

00:45:19.660 We were created to serve his will.

00:45:22.340 And one day every knee shall bow either by joyful submission or by force.

00:45:28.600 The late great Puritan Matthew Henry says it like this.

00:45:31.740 Those who will not bow shall break.

00:45:34.220 see the one time that jesus really did come to earth the second member of the trinity the son

00:45:42.440 of god god incarnate god in the flesh the one time that god he who sits in the heavens

00:45:49.960 actually came down to earth and did make himself vulnerable did make himself accessible

00:45:57.900 For example, humanity sees that opportunity to kill him, to crucify the Lord of glory.

00:46:10.140 See, the reality of our sin, of humanity's sin, is that at the end of the day, we don't want in our own fallen nature, apart from the grace of God, apart from being made a new creation in Christ Jesus by grace through faith in him, apart from that, we don't desire God.

00:46:27.900 we're not looking

00:46:30.500 God if you were just closer to me

00:46:32.640 Emmanuel, God with us

00:46:33.860 if you were just closer, more accessible

00:46:36.380 I would cherish you

00:46:38.380 no, there is a time in history

00:46:40.540 where God made himself close and accessible

00:46:42.840 and humanity used it to drive nails

00:46:45.480 through his hands and feet

00:46:47.180 humanity used it as a moment to praise him

00:46:51.500 but sarcastically

00:46:52.980 by putting a crown of thorns on his head

00:46:55.880 dripping blood down his face.

00:47:02.100 See, if you doubt the sinfulness of man,

00:47:05.340 look to the cross.

00:47:07.860 There we see the one opportunity

00:47:10.080 for man to truly cherish God.

00:47:13.920 And instead,

00:47:15.880 we crucify the Lord of glory.

00:47:19.780 But if you doubt the love of God

00:47:22.940 for man in his sin,

00:47:24.620 look to the cross.

00:47:28.600 See, we see that man was so sinful

00:47:30.880 that Jesus had to die,

00:47:32.480 but we also see

00:47:33.500 that you and I, God's elect,

00:47:37.160 were so loved that Jesus was willing to die.

00:47:41.340 The Father, who loved the world,

00:47:44.440 so loved the world,

00:47:46.200 sent His Son to die.

00:47:51.540 We see the sinfulness of man.

00:47:54.320 We see the justice of God, what he requires in order to atone for sin.

00:47:58.440 That the wages of sin is death.

00:48:01.060 But we also see the love of God.

00:48:03.600 The sinfulness of man, the justice and holiness of God,

00:48:07.740 but also the mercy, the love and kindness of God.

00:48:11.740 All in the cross.

00:48:14.700 That's who man is, apart from saving grace.

00:48:19.700 Not indifferent toward God.

00:48:21.640 But Romans 8 says the mind of the sinful man is hostile toward God.

00:48:26.500 It is plotting, like our text today, how we can overcome God, how we can cast off his rule,

00:48:34.140 how we ultimately, if we could, if he did step down off his throne again and make himself vulnerable, how we could kill him.

00:48:42.540 That's the mind of man apart from the saving grace of God.

00:48:46.480 That's the heart of man, apart from the saving grace of God,

00:48:50.480 plotting, meditating how to beat him, to crush him, to destroy him, and ultimately to kill him.

00:49:00.880 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man,

00:49:05.780 though for a good man one might possibly dare to die.

00:49:09.020 But God demonstrates his love for us in this,

00:49:11.660 while we were yet sinners.

00:49:14.000 not cute sinners

00:49:17.340 vile

00:49:18.940 not indifferent or uninterested

00:49:22.520 in God but hostile

00:49:24.300 at war with him in our hearts

00:49:26.580 and minds contemplating and

00:49:28.560 plotting in vain to destroy

00:49:30.800 him if we ever had

00:49:32.600 the chance but at that time

00:49:34.560 God sent

00:49:36.200 his son

00:49:37.100 to die

00:49:40.100 for us

00:49:41.140 because he loves

00:49:43.620 all his people.

00:49:48.980 The urgency of submitting to Christ

00:49:51.300 is expressed in verse 12 of our text

00:49:53.360 by the phrase,

00:49:54.520 his wrath is quickly kindled.

00:49:57.180 The first time Jesus came to earth,

00:49:59.120 he came in mercy in order to save.

00:50:00.960 The second time he comes to earth,

00:50:03.160 he will come in wrath in order to judge.

00:50:06.060 However, even if his coming is delayed,

00:50:09.640 we have no guarantee that we will be permitted

00:50:12.180 by God to draw another breath.

00:50:14.900 If you do not submit to Jesus Christ before you die,

00:50:17.740 you will face the wrath of His judgment for eternity,

00:50:20.860 according to Hebrews 9, verse 27.

00:50:23.780 The last line of Psalm 2, our text today,

00:50:26.900 is God's gracious invitation.

00:50:30.000 It says this,

00:50:31.700 Blessed are all who take refuge in Him.

00:50:37.140 As we see the chaos in our world,

00:50:39.400 we can be truly happy and blessed

00:50:40.860 by taking refuge in our God.

00:50:42.880 The early church took refuge in God

00:50:44.800 by praying Psalm chapter 2

00:50:46.380 as they faced immense persecution.

00:50:49.260 In our troubled times,

00:50:50.500 when it looks as if the enemy might be winning,

00:50:53.160 we can do the same.

00:50:56.360 In conclusion, in short,

00:50:58.100 what I would say is this.

00:51:00.600 There are two options.

00:51:03.040 One works.

00:51:05.360 It's viable.

00:51:07.240 The other is futile.

00:51:09.580 It does not work.

00:51:10.860 it possesses no assurance and no hope for deliverance.

00:51:17.060 The two options are this.

00:51:18.960 You can attempt to hide from the Son,

00:51:22.520 but He will find you,

00:51:25.040 and He will break you and crush you with an iron rod.

00:51:29.840 You can attempt to hide from the Son.

00:51:33.500 Revelation speaks that these same kings of the earth

00:51:35.860 who conspired against the Holy One, the Anointed One,

00:51:39.460 that we see in Psalm chapter 2

00:51:41.060 are the same people who will run into the caves

00:51:43.800 and caverns of the mountains

00:51:45.020 to hide from the Lord of glory when he returns

00:51:47.920 and cry out for the very rocks to fall on them.

00:51:52.580 But there will be no place to run,

00:51:55.620 no place to hide.

00:51:57.720 So your two options are this.

00:51:58.880 You can try to hide from the sun.

00:52:03.880 Or, as the final verse of our text says,

00:52:06.900 you can hide in the sun.

00:52:09.460 the cleft and the rock,

00:52:12.820 the refuge, the strong tower,

00:52:16.760 the robes of righteousness that cover our iniquity and our sin.

00:52:21.980 You can kiss the son while there's still time.

00:52:26.980 His wrath is quickly kindled.

00:52:30.800 And yet at the same time, his forgiveness endures forever.

00:52:36.440 Kiss the son.

00:52:39.460 Don't hide from Jesus with the sin in your heart.

00:52:46.220 Don't hide from Jesus.

00:52:48.920 Run to and hide in Jesus.

00:52:55.220 He's our hiding place.

00:52:58.820 He's our refuge.

00:53:01.620 The only deliverer from the Son is the Son.

00:53:07.080 And today, by God's grace, we have been given the opportunity to bow by grace rather than break under his power on that final day.

00:53:22.600 So let's worship that.

00:53:25.520 Let me pray.

00:53:26.880 Father, we thank you for your word.

00:53:29.060 We thank you for Jesus, the lamb who died to take away the sin of the world.

00:53:36.260 And we also thank you that this Jesus is the lion who rules and reigns and has promised to return again.

00:53:45.120 Father, we pray for fresh grace in our lives to submit further and further to his lordship now.

00:53:54.240 with willing hearts,

00:53:59.060 not begrudgingly,

00:54:02.280 not out of mere joyless obligation,

00:54:07.980 but that we would be in our hearts

00:54:09.760 a growing glad submission

00:54:11.720 as we meditate more and more on your law,

00:54:15.480 the rightness of your law,

00:54:17.160 but the goodness of your law,

00:54:20.020 that what produces holiness

00:54:21.600 also produces happiness.

00:54:24.240 in our hearts and minds and lives.

00:54:27.280 Father, help us to see your love for us in Jesus.

00:54:30.980 Help us to see your wisdom,

00:54:33.200 that we live in your world.

00:54:34.540 You know what works.

00:54:36.300 You know what leads towards life and prosperity

00:54:40.400 and what ultimately only leads to death.

00:54:44.340 Help us to trust you.

00:54:46.800 For any of us who doubt whether or not you're really good,

00:54:50.420 whether or not you're just trying to force us to submit

00:54:53.780 for your own benefit

00:54:55.280 or whether or not you're really good toward us.

00:54:58.820 You've provided all the evidence we need.

00:55:02.760 You love the world so much

00:55:05.440 you sent your only son

00:55:07.260 to die for us at our worst.

00:55:10.900 What more proof of your goodness and kindness

00:55:13.860 could we possibly require?

00:55:16.700 Forgive us, Lord, for our unbelief.

00:55:20.580 Help us, Lord, to grow in faith.

00:55:23.780 And we thank you that we have confidence

00:55:26.360 that that has happened even today.

00:55:30.100 For faith comes by hearing

00:55:32.820 and hearing by the word of God.

00:55:36.820 Thanks so much for listening.

00:55:38.160 But real quick, before you go,

00:55:40.100 do us a small favor, take a moment

00:55:41.920 and leave us a five-star review

00:55:43.760 if you enjoyed the show.

00:55:45.340 This is undoubtedly the best way

00:55:47.700 that you can help us get this biblically faithful content

00:55:50.600 to as many people as possible.

00:55:52.740 Thanks so much.

00:55:53.780 You

The NXR Podcast - June 19, 2022

SUNDAY SERMON - Christ Shall Break The Wicked With A Rod Of Iron - Psalm 2

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