This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

(upbeat music) - Welcome back for Psalm two. This is week one, day two of our
look through the first 25 Psalms together. And as we looked at Psalm two, as we
go through the entire book of Psalms, you're going to see that many of them have a
hard edge to them.

Not all the Psalms are the sheep by the still water in Psalm 23. And even in
Psalm 23, you have the valley of the shadow of death. There's a hard edge to
many of the Psalms.

Let me read for you Psalm two, verses one to 10, and I think you'll hear it. Why
do the nations conspire and the people's plot in vain? The kings of the earth
take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord, against his
anointed one.

Let us break their chains, they say. Let us throw off their fetters. The one
enthroned in heaven laughs.

The Lord scoffs at them. Then he rebukes them in his anger and he terrifies them
in his wrath saying, I have installed my king on Zion, my holy hill. I will
proclaim the decree of the Lord.

He said to me, you are my son, today I have become your father. Ask of me and I
will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.
You will rule them with an iron scepter.

You will dash them to pieces like pottery. Therefore, you kings be wise, be
warned, you rulers of the earth. Psalm two, this Psalm that has this hard edge
to it is quoted or alluded to in the New Testament at least 17 times more than
any other Psalm.

Many of the Psalms look prophetically ahead to the life of Jesus and Psalm two
is one of those Psalms. The early Christians knew the book of Psalms well. Many
of them had memorized it in their rabbinical schools, in their Jewish boy
schools.

So they immediately recognized Jesus when they read through the book of Psalms.
And they were inspired by the Spirit to write about it in the New Testament.
Here's just a few places we see Psalm two in the New Testament.

When Peter and John were released from prison in the book of Acts, they said in
their prayer, God, you spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your
servant, our father David. Why do the nations rage and the people plod in vain?
The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and
against his anointed one.

Those words we just read from Psalm two. Then in verse 27 of Acts chapter four,
indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of
Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you
anointed. So they recognize Jesus is the anointed one that's being talked about
here in Psalm two.

And then that phrase, you are my son. Those were words that were heard at
Jesus's baptism as Jesus is coming up out of the water. You are my son.

Acts 13, 32 and 33, he has fulfilled for us their children by raising up Jesus
as it is written in the second Psalm, you are my son, today I've become your
father. So they recognized these words as referring to Jesus. And Hebrews one
five says, to which of the angels did God ever say, you are my son, today I've
become your father.

The book of Revelation points to another picture from this Psalm, the picture of
one who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter and knows that that
points to Jesus. Revelation 12 five, she gave birth to a son, a male child who
will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to
God into his throne.

So you hear this Psalm, you see the strength of God in this and you're reading
the truth about Jesus. In many ways, Psalm one tells us the purpose of the book.
The purpose is that God wants to give his blessings into your life.

And Psalm two gives us the message of the book. And the message throughout the
book of Psalms, we're going to see this again and again and again is, God is
greater, God is greater. The nations act and feel and look as if they are the
greatest thing.

But they pale in comparison to the greatness of God. God laughs that they would
think that they are the greatest thing. Just like you would laugh at a two year
old thinking that they could win a fight against a parent.

It's just humorous and God laughs. But if you feel like this is only about the
nations, then you're missing the point. It's about you and me.

Because we sometimes conspire and plot in vain to get our way instead of God's
way. We sometimes take our stand against Jesus. And we sometimes want to break
our chains and live like we want.

This is a Psalm that's about the foolishness of conspiring against, of standing
against, of fighting against the one who is not only all powerful but all
loving. This is a Psalm that reminds us of both God's love and God's power. It's
summed up in verse 11.

Verse 11 says, "Serve the Lord with fear "and rejoice with trembling. " You
serve him with fear and you rejoice with trembling. There's this balance.

The balance of the love and the power of God. You could call it awe. It is the
awesome grace of God and the awful wrath of God that are right alongside of each
other.

And in order to understand who God really is, you have to understand both. If
all I have is love, an understanding of God's love, I can easily see God as
weak. But if all I have is power, an understanding of God's immense power, I can
see God as cold and distant.

God is love. But in his love, he reacts to sin and wrath. God in this Psalm is
pictured as someone who is angry at the nations for wanting their own way.

Well, of course he is. Because they're hurting not only themselves but those
that they're leading in the wrong way. Now, these nations, they're raging
against God 'cause they're not getting their way.

You ever been there? Know somebody who's there? Their heart is raging.

Your heart is raging against God 'cause you're not getting your way. The
circumstances aren't turning out like you wanted them to turn out. Your life is
not turning out as you wanted it to turn out.

And whether you've admitted it to yourself or not or that friend of yours has
admitted it to themselves or not, inside they're raging against God. For all of
us who find ourselves in that place, and all of us do at some point, there's an
invitation for us in verse 12. Verse 12 says this, "Kiss the son, lest he be
angry "and you be destroyed in your way, "for his wrath can flare up in a
moment.

"Blessed are all who take refuge in him. " I love that picture. It's God's
invitation to you today.

Kiss the son. Now, there's all kinds of kisses. You kiss your girlfriend or your
boyfriend.

You kiss your husband or your wife. You kiss your grandmother. There's all kinds
of kisses.

But this phrase, kiss the son, we've just read about the one who is the ruler of
all, the one who's the king. You kiss the ring of a ruler to recognize the power
of that ruler and to proclaim your allegiance, your commitment to that ruler.
You kiss the ring of a ruler to proclaim your willing, even loving submission to
that ruler.

And so the invitation here is kiss the son, but you better know who you're
kissing. Not Jesus meek and mild, Jesus with an iron scepter, the power of God.
That's God's invitation to you today.

Kiss the son. So in a spirit of prayer right now, would you just say this to
Jesus? Jesus, I just visualize myself right now.

You are the ruler. You have a kind of power that I can't even conceive. And so I
visualize myself right now, bowing my knee before you and taking that ring of
power and kissing you, kissing the son, recognizing your power, submitting to
your power.

But I don't do it in fear. I do it in love. You are a God to be feared, but
you're also a God to be loved.

And I choose to express that love to you right now. Thank you, Jesus, for what
you did on the cross that opened the way for me to bow my knee before you in
this moment and say, you are my Lord. You are my Lord.

In your name, I proclaim this. Amen. Tomorrow, we're going to look together at
Psalm three at how David found God's strength when he was at his lowest.