What a blessing it is to be here this morning with you all. I genuinely hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family, whether you were traveling or here. I hope it was a blessed time. We should be studying and contemplating the person of Christ all throughout the year, but in particular, this Advent season, this Christmas season, is our time in the year to focus our thoughts on the incarnation of God. Jesus Christ, the God-man, our intercessor, our savior, bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. You might not know this, but we throw the word advent around a lot in the Christmas season. But the word advent is the Latin translation of the Greek word, which in the New Testament means coming or appearing. And so it actually is talking about both of Christ's coming, both his coming first as a baby, as well as his future coming. as a conquering king. So when we celebrate the Christmas season, we need to remember we're not just looking back to when Christ first came. We're also looking forward to when Christ comes again. And I have the blessing of preaching this entire Advent series for you. I hope it's a blessing to you. It certainly is a blessing to me. Giving Dr. Campbell a break. And for this Advent season, what we'll be doing is for each Sunday, we'll be walking through a different psalm. And we'll be doing a couple things slightly differently because it's Christmas season. We got to shake things up. Not only will I be teaching through a single psalm each Sunday, we'll be singing the Psalter for that psalm each Sunday. We also, and hopefully this will go over well, we're gonna recite the Nicene Creed every Sunday. I've actually talked to a couple of y'all who've mentioned that you wanna memorize it. Now's your time. Hopefully the five weeks in a row of the Nicene Creed will bake it on in there. So with all that being said, I'm looking forward to finding and beholding Christ in the Psalms with you in this Christmas season. So, please open your copy of God's Word to Psalm 2. and let's listen attentively to the word of the Lord. Psalm 2. Why do the nations rage and the people's plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed saying, let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us. He who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury, saying, As for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. I will tell of the decree. The Lord said to me, You are my son. Today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Now, therefore, kings, be wise. Be warned, oh rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the sun, lest he be angry and you perish in the way. For his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. This is the word of the Lord. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of the book of the Psalms. And Father, I pray that we all may learn to strive to look for Christ in this book. And I pray that you would give us ears and give us eyes to see and to behold your Savior, our Savior, in your word this morning. And I pray this all in the name of Christ. Amen. So before we get started, let me ask a question. What are the Psalms? I don't want to assume that everyone here is really well acquainted with this book. The book of Psalms, to put it simply, is the songbook of the church. The songbook of the church. Imagine if our Trinity Hymnal, say in 500 years, someone found the Trinity Hymnal and it was just the words but none of the tunes. It'd still be really rich. And that's kind of the way it is with the Psalms. We don't know the tunes that these people sang them, but we know that they were songs. It's a book of poetry describing what it's like to be a follower of the true God. They teach us how to pray, how to thank God. They teach us about theology, what it means to suffer, what it means to be sorrowful, what it means to be joyful and hopeful. There are some Psalms that are as new as the exile of Israel. There are some songs that are as old as Moses. And at least 73 of them were written by King David himself. Let me, just to kind of get at why the Psalms are so important to the Christian life, let me read a quote by John Calvin real quick. He said this, I have been accustomed to call this book, I think not inappropriately, and anatomy of all the parts of the soul. For there is not an emotion of which anyone can be conscious. that is not represented here as in a mirror. Or rather, the Holy Spirit has here drawn to the life all the griefs, sorrows, fears, doubts, hopes, cares, perplexities. In short, all the distracting and troublesome emotions with which the minds of men are wont to be agitated. Sounds very much like Calvin. But I encourage you, ask any older Christian you know any mature believer, and they will tell you, the Psalms are the expression of the deep groanings of my soul, that I never had the words until I read the Psalms. And so this Psalm this morning, Psalm 2, has four different sections, and we're gonna work through them. You'll find your Home Group Helps insert to be of use. And for each section, we're going to see, what did the original author mean by this? It was most likely David. But we're also going to see what does the Psalm ultimately tell us about our Savior, Jesus Christ. So let's look first at verses 1 through 3, the raging nations. David is looking at the world and he's saying, why do the nations rage? Why do the peoples plot together in vain against God and against his anointed? We're not told explicitly when this was written, but if you recall your Old Testament history, there was a time when David was a king of Judah, and yet the descendants of Saul in the north were still not submitting to his kingship. And that lasted for a number of years. So possibly this is when David wrote this, because in David's time, he faced a lot of opposition, both from pagan nations outside of Israel, as well as Israelites within his very country. It's much like what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 7 about the Christian life. It's having fightings without and fears within. Raging nations. So what does it mean to rage? Why does David use this word? He's using this word to describe to us those who resist the rule and the authority of God. Often in Hebrew poetry, you'll find it kind of goes lines of two. And usually the second line of poetry describes further what the first line is trying to say. And so right here we can see, what does it mean that the nations rage? It means that the peoples are plotting against the Lord. These people have no intention of submitting to God and listening to his word. And while this happens even in our hearts as Christians at times, we hate that. And we do battle with it. These people love it. And it is their life. But notice with me, even in the second line, how David accompanies his cry of lament with this short little phrase. He says, they plot in vain. Emptiness, worthlessness, even in the depths of his woe as he's looking around at the world that's going to shambles, he admits in his heart, all of this plotting is ultimately in vain. And just at the beginning, we would all do well to remember this and to mimic it. God's sovereignty does not mean that we do not endure hardships, or even that the hardships don't genuinely trouble us. Rather, we do need to let the true sorrows of this world penetrate us, and in some ways, to feel them deeply while still remembering that the Lord is sovereign. That's what it means to lament biblically. So how are these nations, these peoples, setting themselves against God? What is the purpose of their taking counsel together? Let's keep reading. Well, you might think that this is some stubborn resistance to the Lord in the heart. And it is that, but it's a bit more. It's deeper than that. This is a deep disdain for the Lord that is manifested particularly in the way they reject his anointed one. The way they reject His divinely chosen person. I'm guessing most of your Bibles right here says that they take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed. This is the Hebrew word, Mashiach. Sounds like Messiah. The Greek translation of this word is Christos, which is Christ. starting to, all the things are starting to connect because both of these words carry the meaning of anointing. Like when someone would become king or priest, they would be anointed with oil to symbolize that God's presence, God's spirit is with this person in this specific task. And these nations in their defiance, they wish to cast away the cords of this person and burst their bonds. The image here is of a prisoner rending away his cords, his shackles. Or even more, it's like an ox throwing off its yoke. These nations, these people have the hearts which say, I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul, not you guys. They want no external control, no one, as Elder Cox said, no one to tell them what to do. They do not want to affirm with the psalmist that the Lord is in the heavens and he does what he pleases. So let me ask this question. Who is David talking about? Is he talking about himself? Or is he talking about someone else? In a sense, David is truly talking about himself right here. He was the anointed one of God, and he faced a lot of opposition in his life. And yet, in a richer and much fuller and truer sense, this is speaking of our Savior, Jesus. Because even though David is likely speaking here in this psalm, the main character of the psalms is always Jesus Christ. We're gonna see this in the next five weeks. The main character of the Psalms is always Jesus Christ. And this is what the New Testament teaches us to view the Psalms as. The Psalms teaches about who Jesus is, what Jesus thought, what Jesus said, how to live faithfully for Christ, and how to respond to suffering. So what does this first section teach us specifically about our Savior? Christ is the true Messiah, the true anointed one, the king for whom David longed. In his first advent, when he came as a baby, what birth caused more raging in this world than the birth of Jesus Christ? Right? Herod wanted him dead. The Jews completely ignored and refused him. Even the people of Bethlehem did not welcome in the couple in need of housing. He came to his own and his own did not receive him. And I could see Mary in some of these moments when they're fleeing to Egypt, fleeing from the terror of Herod, thinking to herself, Lord, why do the nations rage against your anointed one? The coming of the Messiah is a tragic blend of glory and suffering, light and darkness, grandeur and humility, which ultimately culminates in the cross. What should we learn from these verses? Don't be surprised at the evil of the world or the opposition you face as a Christian. Don't let it surprise you. David faced opposition for being a follower of Christ, and the apostles did as well. See, this outside world will always reject the word of the Lord to some extent. I know many of us watch the news and keep tabs with what's going on in the world. And tell you what, sometimes it can be very depressing. Seeing the wars that are happening, the famines, the pains, the hurts, the scandals. You might be thinking to yourself, Lord, why do the nations rage against you? If this is true, why don't people accept it? And in some senses, we should let these things burden us. They burden David. The key is we can't let them burden us longer than David let it burden him. Because these are only the first three verses. And sometimes this raging, if you will, is not always outside of us. Sometimes this raging against the Word and against Jesus is within your very soul, is it not? This is why Paul says, woe is me, who will save me from this body of sin? Because he recognized this war of flesh against spirit The Heidelberg Catechism has a great answer that I think kind of gets at what I'm saying. The question is, do you have the ability to follow the law of God perfectly? And the answer is, no, I have a natural tendency to hate God and hate my neighbor. So even though we look outside of us and we see this raging in the world against Christ, we have to recognize that this battle is going on within ourselves as well. Granted, it's a battle that's won, but it's still there. Let's look on to verses four through six. How does God respond to this? How does the Lord respond to the raging of the nations? And believers would do well to rehearse this section in their hearts. How does God respond to all of the raging? He laughs. Look at verse four. He who sits in the heavens The Lord holds them in derision. This makes me think of, remember when David goes out to face Goliath and Goliath looks at him, what does he do? He laughs. It's like, who is this person who's come to me with sticks and stones? That's what I think of, except the Lord is actually unbeatable. The Lord is actually in charge, whereas Goliath, he didn't really know what he was talking about. The Lord mocks them. He says he holds them in derision, which means he's watching the evil that is taking place in this earth, and he's taking account of it. And friends, this should comfort us, because right here, written in these verses, is the very doctrine of providence that should give us a lot of comfort. The doctrine of providence is that for God's children, nothing happens to them except that which he hands to you by a loving fatherly hand." And David does well to remember that any triumph that he sees in the world around him is ultimately the Lord waiting patiently and laughing. That's powerful. And he doesn't just laugh, he responds as well. You might be thinking, okay, if the Lord is in the heavens laughing, what response does he give that terrifies these people, as these verses say? Is it coming judgment? Is it recompense for action, immediate judgment? God responds to the raging and sin of this world by sending his own king and promising that his own king will rule. I have set my king on Zion, the place of my holiness. And let me ask again, was David talking about himself? Is David talking about his own kingship? And in a sense, yes, I do think he was. He was the divinely chosen king for God's people, but even he was looking forward to someone better, looking forward to someone greater. This ultimately teaches us of of our Savior. It is incredible that God's response to the raging nations, all of the unbelief and disobedience of the world, what he doesn't do is he doesn't send a conquering king immediately. He doesn't send unstoppable judgment immediately, but he sends a baby. clothed in weakness, humble, and dependent. And this baby would be placed, and this person would be placed in Zion, which couldn't happen unless this person was a real human. And this forces us to wrestle with this question. If this is the way the Lord responds to the raging nations, do you truly believe that the greatest answer to all the problems in your life is the person of Christ? the little baby whom we worship at Christmas. No doubt, there's many hardships going on in this room right now. Raising children is difficult. God never promised that that would be easy. Perhaps some of you are struggling with an illness, maybe one that will never go away, or the illness of a loved one. Perhaps you struggle with pride, thinking too highly of yourself, or abasement, thinking that you're worthless. or the lust of the flesh is something that you do battle with every single day, or maybe the fear of death itself is something that terrifies you. God's gracious answer is Jesus to all of those. If you have Christ, his son, there is truly nothing that you lack. There's a reason that the song we're gonna end with today, Joy to the World, it has this beautiful line. It says, let every heart prepare him room. It's kind of taking off the symbolism of Bethlehem, where Bethlehem didn't have room for Joseph and Mary. We all must shove aside the sin that so easily entangles, admit our need and welcome in Christ in our hearts. We must say like John the Baptist, I must decrease, you must increase. So if this is God's response to the world, to the raging nations, who exactly would this king be? And that's what our next section is about. In verses seven through nine, they tell us about the royal son of God. David starts off by saying, I will tell of the decree. He's kind of sounding like a herald, right? A person who goes into a city before a king and shouts, the king is coming! On a side note, when I was, I think, I want to say 10 or 12, I can't remember, I was in one of those corny Christmas plays that little kids do in churches very often. And the name of the play was A King is Coming to Town. And because I had absolutely no fear of being in front of people, I was cast as the news reporter guy, announcer, who's kind of like running the show. And apparently, I only know this because my parents told me this, I memorized the entire script so well that you can see in the video me mouthing everybody's lines, except my own. It was that kind of Christmas play. Point being, a king is coming to town. That's what David is doing here. He's telling of the decree. He's shouting from his very soul who God's king is. And is he talking about himself? Maybe, yes, in a sense. David could rightly call himself God's son, in a sense. Psalm 89, verses 26, speaking of David, says this. He shall cry to me, you are my father, and I will make him the firstborn. But David wasn't truly God's son. This son would be publicly announced to be begotten of the father. And maybe this is David talking about him being born of God when he became the king, but that's a little bit of a stretch. It's a little bit of a stretch. Not only that, it says that this king in verse eight will inherit the nations, inherit the entire earth. This is way larger than the promise to Abraham. Abraham was promised Canaan. And David almost got all of that. So this can't be speaking just of David. And finally, this person, it says, would not only inherit the nations, but it says he will rule them, he will break them, he will make them submit. And a lot of pagans bowed the knee to the Lord through David's reign, but nowhere close to all of them. This must be speaking about Jesus Christ. These are some heavy theology verses. We've got four things about our Savior that we can learn from just these three verses. And this is gonna be some heavy theology, but it's good for you. Remember that. Number one, we learn that Christ is the Son of God. Look in verse seven, the Lord said to me, you are my son. What does that mean? He's not the Father, but he's still God. This is referring to the great mystery of the Trinity that we read in the Bible, found all throughout the scriptures, that God is one, and yet God is three. One being three persons, total unity and yet plurality. You see it from the very beginning of the Bible when the Lord says, let us make man in our own image. As Howard mentioned, the sixth question of the Shorter Catechism asks this, how many persons are there in the Godhead? And the answer is there are three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory. And if you know your gospel stories well, you're gonna recognize this phrase, you are my Son. Remember when Jesus was baptized? That's the voice that came out from heaven. This is my son with whom I am well pleased. Remember the transfiguration when Christ went up on the mountain and was transfigured before the eyes of three of his apostles? What did the voice from heaven say? This is my son, listen to him. And even the book of Hebrews cites this very passage about Christ. trying to prove that Jesus is greater than the angels. So what does it mean that Jesus is the Son of God? It means he is totally God, and yet distinct from the Father. Sometimes in our heads, when we think about the scriptures, there can be this temptation to think of Jesus as like, you know, two rungs less than the Father. Like he's still really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really great. But he's just a little bit less than the Father. And this passage is just saying no. He is truly God. Second, he is begotten of God. Begotten of God. Look at verse seven, the last part. Today I have begotten you. Now this can be a concept In the scriptures, that can be confusing, to be frank. And yet, it's something we need to mull over because the Lord has given us this language to understand who Christ is. You see this language in the book of John. In the prologue, Jesus is called the only begotten of God. Or think of John 3, 16. For God so loved the world that he sent, what? His only begotten son. We recited this even in the Nicene Creed several minutes ago, which said, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, begotten, not created. And even our song, as Howard pointed out, mentions this. In O come, all ye faithful, we sing, God of God, light of light, begotten, not created. So this is clearly everywhere. This is common in the scriptures, but what does it mean that Jesus was begotten and not created? So let's work through this. Jesus is the only being who's ever been, only person who's ever been begotten of God. The Father is not begotten. The spirit is not begotten. You are not begotten. You are created. This is not some physical generation in the same way that parents have a child. But the way parents have a child points to that, this spiritual beginning. Because for a perfect, infinite, unchangeable God to be a father, that means that there never was a time when he was not a father. He is eternal, which means there was never a time when the Son did not exist. There was never a time when the Son was not begotten of the Father. It's difficult to wrap our brains around, but this is what the scriptures are making us wrestle with. What does this mean? Why does it matter? It means, as Jesus says in John 14, if you have seen me, you have seen the Father. If you have seen Christ in the gospel, you have seen nothing less than the face of your Heavenly Father. He is the exact imprint of God's nature, as Hebrews tells us. And although Jesus is not God the Father, we can't separate the Father and the Son too much. We must worship Jesus Christ to the same degree that we worship God the Father. So, real quick. He's the Son of God. He's begotten of God. Why do these two truths matter? Why do these matter? Is that all just heady theology that doesn't apply? No, it does matter. Here are two reasons. First, the humility of Christ's birth. the humility of Christ's birth. When we grasp in our hearts and in our souls that Jesus was truly the Son of God, truly begotten of the Father before all worlds, and then we think that he came down and clothed himself in flesh and bone, that should make us wonder. That should give us pause to comprehend and ponder the majesty of our Savior, clothed in flesh the Godhead see, hail the incarnate deity, pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel. As we lift Christ up and understand who he is in his essence, we begin to grasp the meekness that it took for him to become a baby, a child. That's the first application. Second, the efficacy of his death. the efficacy of his death, only God could heal you of your sin. And yet only a man could pay for what you owe. And so if Christ is truly the son of God, and truly begotten of God, that means every word that he has said is true and lasting. That when he says to people in the gospels, your faith has saved you, we should take comfort in that. Because Christ is God. So those were the first two theological points in this section. Now we're gonna look at the last two theological points of this section. Number three, our Savior would inherit the nations. Look in verse eight, which says, ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. What a promise. If you look back into the Old Testament scriptures, you'll find that Israel's future hope did not just involve the destruction of everyone around them. That is not what they hoped for. They hoped for that those around them would come to know the Lord as they did, and to worship their God. Abraham was told, through you, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. Moses saying in Deuteronomy 32 that someday the nations would gather together to sing the praises of the Lord and that great passage in Isaiah 9 says on The nation's dwelling in darkness the Gentiles dwelling in darkness behold. They have seen a great light and Jesus is the one who inherits these nations and Why is this important? We read this and sometimes it could feel so separate and we're like, why does this matter? It matters because you're the nations. We're the nations. The only reason that you know God is because Christ inherited you. If it were not for the fact that Christ was sent to all men to inherit the nations, we would have no hope. because truly we once were far off from Christ, and yet we have been gathered in. Number four, the Messiah would be the judge of the nations. Look at verse nine. Speaking of the sun, he says, you shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. How can Christ be both the inheritor of the nations and the judge of the nations? because we're seeing both of those back-to-back. Jesus inherits all things in a sense, but he will own and bless those who accept him, and he will judge and punish them who do not. So in this Psalm, very much like Psalm 1, there are two groups of people. There are those who submit to the rule of Christ, and those who will submit once he returns. Submit now or submit later. then, and this very passage is cited in the book of Revelation three times to teach us how Jesus Christ rules the nations. He rules them with this rod of iron, which Revelation 12 teaches us is the word of his mouth. This rod of iron is the word of God. So these last two points, that Jesus would inherit the nations and judge the nations, why do they matter? Why does that matter to you and me? Two more points of application. First, they matter for evangelism and for missions, because the nations already belong to Christ. They are his possession. All authority in heaven and on earth was given to our Savior. And we need to tell people about this, that you are not your own. but you belong to your God. And this is good news, friends. In a world that idolizes the fact that each person is their own entity and no one tells them what to do, that is a doctrine that will damn people unless they hear the good news that Christ came as their savior. That's why I hope and pray that our church continues to support missionaries, not only who stay here and preach the gospel here, but people who go. And I pray even some of you listening here would feel that inward call, the burden to preach the gospel to people who don't even know that there is a Redeemer. Second point, the fact that Christ is the judge of all nations shows vindication. As those who are Christians, on the last day, we will be vindicated. We'll be shown that we were in the right, no matter how difficult life is or how much we are oppressed or opposed. We can be assured that all of the sin and injustice in this world will be dealt with because Jesus says it will. So this is a lengthy, heady, heavy, and awesome decree and it demands a response. And that's what we're gonna see in these last three verses. The required response in verses 10 through 12. Now, therefore, O kings, be wise. Be warned, O rulers of the earth. He's saying, be wise, contemplate your end, think about who you are. Can you contend with the Almighty and survive? How much less can you contend with his anointed one, with Christ? You can't even wake up every day and read your Bible consistently. How much less can you contend with the Almighty who created you? This is what God says to Job. He says, shall a fault finder contend with the Lord? And the answer is no. Be wise. Receive and welcome instruction. This psalm is speaking to kings and rulers to show that everybody must heed this warning, this response. How much more all people? How much more you and I? We need to pay homage to Christ. This phrase at the beginning of verse 12 is literally rendered in the ESV, kiss the sun, kiss the sun. My mind draws to all those movies or stories of royalty I've heard of. And what do people do? They come up and they kiss the hand of the monarch to show you are my king. I am below you. And often they do that kissing while on a knee, which viscerally shows you are greater than I. You are greater than I. Do so in your hearts. I encourage you, meditate on the fact that you are not God. And this one phrase that says, his wrath is quickly kindled, it doesn't mean that God has a short fuse, but it does mean that when Christ returns, there will be no more chance for mercy. The time for mercy is now. So no matter who you are, where you come from, what you've done, or how much you've dishonored the Lord, this Psalm ends with the gospel. It ends with a lot of good news. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. This God is just, but he is merciful. He is fully just, and yet he loves to show mercy. Ask for it. Ask for his mercy. So before I close, I just want to make a couple points about the two comings of Christ, like I mentioned at the beginning. In his first advent, in his first coming, this great king came in humility. May we this Christmas season wrap our minds around and ponder the mercy pent up in that fact, that this great day of judgment was postponed in a sense for Christ to come as a savior. If the God of heaven humbled himself in this way, how much more should we be a humble people? If the Son of God showed such great mercy, how much more should we be a people known for mercy? But now let's look, what does this teach us about his second coming? You all likely have many difficulties going on this Christmas, things going on in your mind, things that trouble you and burden you, but I must remind you that your greatest need is to be right with God on the day when Christ returns. It's not diminishing all those other things, but that is your greatest need. And the psalm teaches that there's only two types of people, those who submit to Christ now and those who will submit to him when he returns. You must accept Christ in his humility before you can claim him in his glory. You must treasure Christ as an unseeming babe before you can treasure him as a conquering king. You must trust the written word before you can glory in the word made flesh. I think the ultimate application of this text we can find from the Christmas story. Remember when in the second chapter of Matthew, we see two characters responding very differently to Christ. We see Herod and we see the Magi. One man who rages, He hears about this king. He plots in vain. He chases after him. He kills dozens of children in order to fight this king, and he loses and dies. Then we see the Magi. They hear of the promise of Christ. They search intently. They ask questions. They find him. They give thanks. They worship him. They kiss the sun, and they leave a changed people. Which one are you? Blessed are all who take refuge in Christ. Heavenly Father, I thank you for this morning. I thank you for your word. Father, it penetrates our soul. Surely none of us can come away from this psalm thinking that we are a flawless people who honor your son perfectly. But Lord, thank you for this gospel promise, that we not need perfect, to be found in Christ on that day, we need to take refuge and admit our need. Help us to take refuge in our Savior. And I pray this in His name. Amen.