Thank you, Ring family, because that's exactly what we want to do as we begin this Christmas season, as far as the Word is concerned. We want to prepare to allow the Lord to work in our hearts, and we are doing that in the Psalms. And I'd ask you to turn to Psalm 2, actually, Psalm 2 this morning. We went from Songs in the Night, that was the series probably August, September, many songs of lament were discussed and taught through and then we did songs of praise and how the Lord has given us clarity in regards to how we should praise him and why we should praise him and what we should do in our praise and so we're thankful for what we learn to that process and then we thought it was appropriate to name the series song of hope my song of hope because that's what the Christmas season is. And so we're thankful for the Psalms that speak about the coming Messiah. So we want to look at some Psalms that predicted that Jesus would come. And Psalm 2 is one that is written by David. If you haven't been here, maybe you're new and this is the first time, the Psalms were the songbook of Israel. And they use these songs in their worship. And David wrote about half of those that are written and contained in the Psalms, David wrote. And this one is from him as well. And some would say it's a counterpart to Psalm 1. So they would say that the two go together because of the way Psalm 1 starts and the way that Psalm 2 finishes, how blessed are all who take refuge in him. But we have it here and how it has been divided in a separate one. And we're going to look at just Psalm 2 this morning. And it really gives us insight on how the kings and rulers of this world view life and specifically God, the creator. And then it also helps us understand God's perspective of how he views the kings and rulers of this life. and the right perspective that he brings to it. This psalm is quoted many times in the New Testament. It's quoted in Acts chapter 4 and Acts chapter 13, Hebrews chapter 1 and Hebrews chapter 5, Revelation 12 and 19. There's some allusions to it in Revelation 1 and 2. And so we find this psalm used many times in the scripture And it's very organized. So for those of you who like well-organized things as far as note-taking, there's four simple sections today and there'll be four points for you to get. And hopefully that'll be helpful for you for retaining the information this morning. But let's read it together as we begin Psalm 2. And I'll read if you would take a copy of the scriptures and follow along, that'd be really, really helpful. Why are the nations in an uproar and the people's devising a vain thing. The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take their counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed saying let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us. He who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord scoffs at them. Then he will speak to them in his anger, and terrify them in his fury, saying, But as for me, I have installed my king upon Zion, my holy mountain. I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord. He said to me, You are my son, today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will surely give you the nations as your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as your possessions. you shall break them with a rod of iron you shall shatter them with earthenware now therefore oh kings show discernment take warning oh judges of the earth worship the lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling do homage to the son that he not become angry and you perish in the way for his wrath may soon be kindled how blessed are all who take refuge in him so we have here you can see it on the screen just the simple words from the text from verse six I have installed my king and so that's where we want to focus this morning on the kingship of our Messiah, Jesus, the one that was born. As a baby, he came, he lived a sinless, perfect life. He lived the life that we could not live, and he accomplished what we could not accomplish through his death. And he rose again, and he is seated at the right hand of the Father, ruling and reigning forever and ever. And so, from our vantage point, In 2022, it may seem to you, and I think you probably know it from a biblical viewpoint, maybe perhaps not if you're new to the Christian faith or you do not even understand the Christian faith and you're here today. But we look at the world and the world is chaotic. In preparation for this, I was thinking about listing all the different countries that have conflicts that are happening right now from Ukraine, and the list could go on and on. But that's just like in this season of time. Think about all the generations from the beginning of time, and all of the rulers, and all of the kings that have been set up, and all of the conflicts, and all of the chaos. I think we probably can conclude, and I think the scripture concludes, that most of those kings, rulers, and countries can't agree on much of anything. Right? You get a group of world rulers together, and there is very few things that come out of those meetings that they actually would be in total unity on. The world rulers are in it for themselves. They have their own interests in mind, sometimes their own people, not very often, but they don't agree on a lot. But what this text says that they agree on, the very one thing they agree on, they don't like the real king. That's what the text says. Why are the nations in an uproar? It's chaos. The peoples, they're devising a vain thing. The kings, plural, of the earth, they take their stand, together, against the Lord and against His anointed. And this is what they agree on. Verse 3. Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us. Let us agree on one thing. We do not like the Creator and we do not like His plan. And so from the very beginning, we have seen conflict after conflict after conflict against those who would claim to be a child of God, a follower of the Messiah. And there will always be that conflict because the nations are in an uproar over it. So when we look at 2022 and we look at all of the injustice around the world, the persecution, which is extremely high at this season of time against Christians, even in our own country, things that happen. And we think, what is going on? The world is falling apart. It has always been falling apart. It's what the text says. David wrote this a long time ago. Why are the nations in an uproar? Why is there cosmic treason against the king? That's point number one. If you're taking notes. Cosmic in the sense that it's universal. It's international. And it's treason, it's rebellion in its rebellion against one person, the person who God anointed His Son, Jesus Christ, to be the Messiah. It's pure anarchy, and it's always been there. And so for Christians, yes, every new event and every new atrocity, it's hard to hear, it's hard to take, it's hard to feel, But it is the same old, same old thing that is always been there. There will always be cosmic treason against the King of Kings. And the rulers think they have something. Says, let's take our stand against him. if you were to take all the nations of the world and all the resources and unify them around this one idea this cosmic treason and try to take a stand and as verse 3 says let's not listen to one thing that he says if you were to try to do that you still as much power and as much money and as much capability as that would bring to the world stage you could not thwart the king of kings. The king that God installed forever and ever to rule and reign cannot be stopped. And so while there is, number one, this cosmic treason against the king, and it seems like many times they are winning and things are going really in a direction that there is no hope, I think you should understand, number two, God's response to man's rebellion. And again, as I mentioned, there's four sections of three verses each, so the next section in these three verses show God's response. He is speaking of God. He who sits in the heavens laughs. the Lord scoffs at them. He will speak to them in his anger and terrify them in his fury, saying, but as for me, I have installed my king upon Zion, my holy mountain. Now there's a near and far Perspective this the near is speaking of David and King that he was anointed But the far perspective which this is predicting is the anointed one the king of kings So there's a couple different meanings here and perspectives that are in play from the context But God's opinion of their treason and their rebellion Is not very good Now when it says that God laughs in heaven, it's not a frivolous laughter. It has the tone of mocking. In fact, the next text, the next verse says that the Lord scoffs at them. So the laughter is more of a roar of, you folks are absolutely crazy. Imagine the scene, the throne of heaven. God the Father, the King of Kings, sitting right next to Him, at His right hand, ruling the heavens, looking down on the measly attempts of man to control and to accomplish their own plans and their own desires, apart from the Creator. and he sits there with Jesus scoffing. That's a pretty unique picture of God the Father and God the Son that we don't hear a lot of. And it talks about in the next verse his terrifying voice which someday every one of those rulers and kings and all those who are part of the cosmic rebellion against him, they will hear that voice, which should be very, very sobering. But it brings great confidence to those who believe Jesus is the King of kings, because it seems like day in and day out that we're not winning. that life is actually so chaotic that it makes no sense. But we must continue as we do. We meet regularly for this very purpose because we're beaten all week long and we have all these voices and we have all of these thoughts that like go through our minds and questions and doubts. And we come together and we meditate on truth and the truth actually clarifies for us. The truth sets us straight. So it can be that on Wednesday afternoon you hear news about the world and the events that are taking place and you think, what next? How bad can it be? And you feel the weight of the brokenness of this world. and the chaos and the rebellion against the Creator. And you just think, what in the world? And then you read this. And you're aligned. Okay. It's always been this way. Always. And it always will be this way until the King of Kings comes back. There will be a day, Psalm 33 says, where all the inhabitants of the earth will fear the Lord. Now, right now, that doesn't seem very likely. But that doesn't mean it's not true. All the inhabitants of the world will fear Him. He will speak to them in anger and that idea of anger in verse five there is really the picture is the flaring of the nostrils. So we're not talking like some weak God in heaven that, oh, everybody's against me. No, we're talking like the majestic, all-powerful, like I can squash you in a second kind of God. that when he senses the rebellion of the nations. He does respond. And his wrath is kindled. And in spite of all that. Rebellion. And hatred. What did he do. For 6. I have installed my king. He still provided a way for us to be right with him. I have installed my king, the king of kings and he did come and he lived starting from a baby And he lived the life and was tempted in every way that we are. And he experienced life in the brokenness like we do. In the next section there, and I'll just give you the point, number three, Jesus declares his authority because the voice changes to where Jesus is now talking. In verse seven, the I there is Jesus, the anointed one. I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord God the Father. And he said to me you are my son. Today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will surely give you the nations as your inheritance and the very ends of the earth as your possessions and you shall break them with a rod of iron and you shall shatter them like earthenware. So Jesus here declares his rightful authority. As the anointed one, Jesus is speaking, saying, man can come up with all of their schemes, man can plan, but God decrees. That's what Jesus says. I will surely tell of the decree of God. So there is one ultimate authority. that surpasses beyond every human ruler that has ever lived and that will ever live. And his decrees actually stand. And Jesus, the anointed one, with full authority, says, I will tell you about the decrees of the Lord. And what he decreed was that I was the begotten one. Now I just want you to understand just quickly briefly the sun did not come into existence when he was born here. So it is not saying that God actually birthed him. And that's when Jesus Christ began. Jesus is part of the Trinity always has been and always will. He was he was there at creation and a vital role in that. But this idea of God begotten him really carries, I think, two significance. And there's some different opinions on this, but I think Hebrews 1 speaks to it and also Acts 13. So I think the begotten idea here is his actual birth, the prediction that Jesus is saying, I will come. But it also, according to Acts 13, I think it's His resurrection as well. So I think it's two-part. I think it's His life and death and resurrection, which is the plan of salvation, God's glorious gift of grace in Jesus Christ from start to finish. His birth and His resurrected life. That Jesus says, with full authority, God said, you are my son. And today this is going to happen. And so this was predicted way before Jesus actually came, which should encourage us and bring us great confidence that we are not reading a book of fables here. This is actually what happened in history. God predicted it. It actually happened. and then continues there in verse 8 Jesus says ask of me and I will surely give the nations as your inheritance and the very ends of the earth as your possession. So God is basically in the conversation with his son saying ask of me and I will do it. And he did. He did. All the nations, all of the earth, belong to Jesus. He is the King of Kings. And what's going to happen is that those who will not follow, they will break under his rod. Says he has a rod of iron. I don't want to feel it. They will break and they will shatter. And so there's this cosmic treason, this rebellion that's always been there. There's God's clear response of confidence. He decreed, he had a plan. It actually is something he's not concerned about. Jesus takes his rightful spot, born in humility, obedient till his death, victorious into life, so that in the last section, which is hard to comprehend for a world that is so antagonistic against the Creator, we have God's door of mercy. Look at verse 10. Now therefore, O kings, show discernment. Take warning, O judges of the earth, this is what you should do. You should worship the Lord with reverence, and you should rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry and perish in the way. For His wrath may soon be kindled, and how blessed are all who take refuge in Him. The door of mercy that God the Father has given is through Jesus, the begotten one, the anointed one, who was given a gift of all the nations. And what he did for us should cause us to worship him, not rebel against him. It should cause us to worship him. He is the king of kings. It says in verse 12 do homage give allegiance submission. How blessed are all those who take refuge in him. Take heart because we are on the right side. And we chose, you probably heard Pastor Jerry talk about it at the beginning there, the weary world rejoices. We chose that theme this year because we've been trying to just help those who have been struggling, going through a hard time, those seasons of lament and hardship and trial. And it very much feels like a weary world right now. And so we chose that phrase to focus on a weary world rejoices. And so we wanted to start here. in the encouragement of God for God's people to understand it may look awful from your perspective. But you only see a small part of it from God's perspective with Jesus ruling and reigning and what will happen someday. Everything is really OK. We are weary. We are worn. But we can rejoice. We can sing songs of hope because God installed his king.