O ye sinner, seek His grace, whose wrath you cannot bear. Fly for shelter to the cross and find salvation there. The book of Psalms, Psalm 2. Psalm 1 and 2 has been stated by those that have studied this as to be the preface to all the books of the Psalms or all the Psalms that are in the book of Psalms. And these two come together kind of as a unit, but they are two different Psalms. We know that because Peter said that in Well, actually, Paul said it when he quoted out of the Psalms, and he said, as the second psalm says. We see that these are two, but they're together and they should always be taken together. And so after I preach Psalm one, in fact, I actually began with an understanding that I would preach Psalm two. But after I started looking at it, then I said, well, I must preach Psalm one before I can go to Psalm two. And so sometimes we have to preach things before we can preach things we want to preach. And so. So that's why it takes so long for us to preach these things, because there's so many things that we have to say before we can say it. And a preacher is a person that begins to talk until he figures out something to say. And so we we have to give this preference to the and have and have to give you an introduction to these things. But see, someone talks about, in contrast, the blessed man with the ungodly man, the man who is godly with the ungodly. Psalm 2 contrasts the sovereign God with the men who think they are sovereign. See, so the sovereign God is contrasted with rebellious man. And that's what we see in Psalm 2. And so here's the question. Why do the heathen, now this word heathen here is the Hebrew word, the nations or those who are Gentiles sometimes called Goyim and this is Goya, which means the nations that are not Hebrew nations or our understanding of this being evangelical. You see, we read the beginning from the end. all the Word of God you see now is read by us. through the New Testament, that is, we put on, as Joe Neeson, a friend of mine, says, we put on the gospel glasses, the gospel spectacles, and we read all of this and see, and once having our minds illuminated to Christ, and once having an understanding that this is about Christ, and once having Christ by the power of the resurrection raise us from the dead, and by no less power than God created the heavens and the earth, That's how we are raised from the dead. When we were dead in trespasses and sin, he brought us to life, gave us a new mind, a new heart, a new understanding of these things. And so here we have a gospel presentation. We know it, you see, because we see it. And so here the heathen now is not simply the nation of Israel, but now the heathen are those people who are not the people of God. We are the Israel of God. Now, that doesn't say that that there's not going to be a future event when God's going to do something with this biological people, this this national entity called Israel. He indeed will do something. In fact, Romans 11, I believe, is very clear about that. But they will come in to the people of God because he said that there are people who are no people. through the prophets, he said, here's a people that are no people that I shall make the people of God. And that's us, you see, this was not seen of them. And in fact, they were very, you read through the book of Acts and the Jews were very resistant to this. And at times, like in Acts 13, They would not hear the Apostle Paul anymore because he told them about the Gentiles coming into this and that they would be partakers of the same blessings because they are indeed the people of God, even as much as the sons of Abraham in the flesh. We are sons of Abraham in the Spirit. We are the people of God. And there's no other people of God before the foundation of the world and the great covenant of grace when the Father and the Son covenanted with one another in this great eternal transaction that produced everything. This produced everything, you see. There's not one thing that does not flow from this great covenant between the Father and the Son. You see, there was a covenant of grace. There was a Savior provided. Before there ever was a sinner created. See, God is in control and great purpose. Now, we can't sound the depths of all of this. We must just simply believe it and preach it. Because if we try to meddle with it, we try to get involved in it, we will make it trivial and we will diminish it. You see, there are some things that we must do even as they that heard Christ in the great Sermon on the Mount. At the end of the thing, they didn't try to analyze it. They didn't try to put it into some kind of literary genre. They didn't try to come to an understanding of how that might fit in to their scheme of living. Here's what it says at the end of this great sermon, and they were astonished at his doctrine. You know what astonished means? Well, I don't know what it fully means, but I know it means this. It's far above your logic. and your ability to assess it. You just receive it, you see. And here it is, this great eternal action that we're receiving the wonder of this thing that God has given to Christ, the people. And you see the people of faith here. Why do the heathen rage? Why do those who are outside this people of faith, why are they raging? Now the word rage here in the Hebrew can mean plotting, but it also can mean a running together in the sense of a riot. But when we read the translation of it, so for example, in Acts chapter 4, this passage of Scripture is quoted, and so we get the Greek word translated rage. Why do the heathen rage? And the idea there in the Greek word is a horse prancing, a horse prancing around, like it's something. And so here, why are these people who are not the people of faith, why are these enemies of God? Because let me tell you this, you're either a friend of God or an enemy of God. There's no middle ground. You're either a goat or a sheep. There's no middle ground. You're either with Him Or you're against it. You see, that's that's a lot different than just being you're either on his side or not. No, you're either with Christ. With all the fervor and zeal of your being. He has captivated you. Paul says, I want to apprehend that which has apprehended me. He has apprehended you. He has grabbed you. He has arrested. The word there can mean arrested. He has seized you up. And Paul says, I want to seize that which has seized me. See, if I love Him, even as we sang last week as an invitation hymn, if I love Him, He must have loved me first. You see, it's His will. It is His action. And so, you're either with Him, meaning, oh, you're just not a little, you know, well, it'll be alright. You know, well, I guess I'll just go down there and I might just obey a few of His commands. Yeah, you know, if I don't have anything better to do, maybe I'll just receive Christ. That's not the words of Jesus. Jesus says, you're either with Me with an earnest, life-consuming energy and interest? Or you're against me in the same way, with a hateful desire to dethrone Him and to crush every remembrance of Him out of our minds and off the throne of grace and to be an open contradiction in warfare to Him? And that's the difference. Jesus says, you're with me or you're against me. And that's the idea of this word, heathen. Why do the heathen rage? Why are they prancing around in all of their supposed glory, warring and fighting and despising? and trying to overthrow God. You notice, he never answers the question. Why do the heathen rage? And the people imagine a vain thing. Never answers it. Never gives us any reason. I was talking with someone just the other day. You know, evil is always around us. People are doing evil and wicked things. In fact, it is so continuous, so constant, that there are a lot of people that believe there is a conspiracy. You see, I have a lot of friends who buy into a conspiratorial view of history. that they believe that there is a conspiracy that people have put India and they name names. And they say that these people and you know, and all of, for example, the Council on Foreign Relations, they say that when you have a when you have an election in America, what you have is the Council on Foreign Relations team one member or Council on Foreign Relations team two member. So the Democrat and Republicans were all on this council. Well, you look in and sure enough, there have been a lot of presidents, almost every one of them, that have been a member of this council on foreign relations. So there's a conspiracy. Well, I don't buy into conspiracies because you know what? We can't even balance a budget. How are we going to pull off a worldwide generational conspiracy and nobody know it? I mean, you can't do anything without getting caught. They catch you. I mean, Sandusky thought he was getting away with it, but he got caught and poor Joe Paterno, because he put up with it. Maybe he's maybe not as poor as, you know, bless his heart. I'll just say that. Then we can say anything we want to about him, that that here he is. You know what that proves? You know what it proves? That when you keep wickedness and sinfulness around you and you think you can cover it, one day God's going to shout it from the rooftop. And you're going to – what a great legacy – ruined! Ruined! Because of this constant pressing and this constant intrusion. of wickedness and sin all around us, constantly coming at us, constantly doing its deed against us, constantly standing against God. And now, see, I've heard all my life, all my life, that one day in America, Christians will be persecuted. And I took it kind of with a grain of salt, you see. Well, surely we have not been persecuted as those in Russia were persecuted or those in Germany and Hitler's Germany was persecuted. Surely we've not been persecuted as those in the Sudan are being persecuted. But you can sense it and see it begin to build around you that here is a man, here is a man, Samuel Truett Cathy, that has a nice family restaurant that serves fried chicken. Now, who could go wrong? Fried chicken. I mean, you give his whole life to fried chicken. What a great man. But he closes on Sunday. Because he's a Christian, you can't you can't run a fast food restaurant closed on Sunday. He said, all right. I guess we won't make it, but let's see, did he make it? And then to ask this old man from an older generation who's Christian in his thinking, what do you think about men marrying men? Women marrying women? I'm against that. Did you ever think you'd live long enough that that would become a controversial statement? That I'm for men marrying women? One man, one woman for one life. That's controversial. And they're all over, and here is what Rahm Emanuel. Did you catch that last name? Rahm Emanuel, mayor of Chicago, says this. Chick-fil-A values are not Chicago values. Well, amen, you got that right, Jack. Hallelujah, I agree with you. They're not. But we're not going to have this hatefulness in Boston. Hateful. You see? Coming at us. Constant. the heathen raging, even to that very hour when Christ stood before the people of Israel, there before this crowd in Jerusalem, being brought up by a Roman court. And there, the crowd shouting through clenched And with hateful tones and words, we will not have this man to rule over us. Have you ever asked yourself this question, why? Why is it constant? Why is it generational? Why is it continuous? Christ was the meek and lowly. He was the friend of sinners. He went around doing good. Christianity has gone through the nations. Christianity began there, obscurely in Palestine, but through the power of God has sweeped the whole Western world, even coming to us. And how much good has Christianity done? How much wonder has it? You see, and the development of it, not only the development of it in the sense of charitable, but how charitable have we been? Who taught us to rush in when hurricanes come in? Who's taught us to go to foreign countries when earthquakes have devastated them? You know the first people there? You know who the first people were in Mississippi after Katrina? The first people that showed up that didn't wait for FEMA and didn't wait for the federal government? You know the first people that showed up in here? Christians. Not only in groups and people and churches, but individuals showed up. Put trailers together. I'm telling you right there, the wind was still blowing and there were people over there on Buckley and over there where I live that brought out machinery and began chainsaws and began to clear the roads. They didn't wait for the government to come. They did it because they were moved by a compassion that can only be birthed in the heart of a man and a woman who is a Christian. This charity of Christ flowing forth through us, you see. And what have we done? You see, not only those kind of things, but here given us the greatest, the greatest model in the history of the world of being able to govern ourselves. You see, many, many historians, older historians that are not surely twisted now by the humanists that twist all things now, you know, to give it a different spin. But these people who knew things, who understood and who saw the progression of Christianity, you see, One like a man like Leopold von Raki, a German historian in the 19th century, said that John Calvin, meaning the philosophy and the theology of the Reformation. John Calvin was practically the founder of America, because only when you see the absolute sovereignty of God and us under the absolute sovereignty of God will we understand the wonderful freedom of man with man. And so this great nation that's arised through these teachings of a meek and lowly Christ and through the understanding of the Spirit that began to apply generation after generation, these eternal truths, they have made, as it were, paradise upon earth and ultimately into the Puritans who could never have happened in any other time of history, but because of the unique spot they were in in history and unique understanding that God gave the church and the transformation of thinking and of theology and of worldviews, now the Puritans come to light and they develop and apply this Christianity to everyday living. And they come up with this business model, this business model that gave the West the greatest wealth in the history of the world that only Solomon and all of his glory could even imagine. How wealthy we are. I'm not talking about just a few sitting at the top. I'm talking about right down to us. I'm telling you that I guarantee you. That there's a rare family in this congregation that has just one automobile. There's a rare family in this congregation that doesn't have trinkets and toys called boats and four wheelers and shotguns, and you know how much that meat cost you, but you don't care. Wealthy? Write down to us. I can guarantee the poorest one of us in this room, the poorest one of us in this room would be in almost every other nation in the world considered wealthy. Where'd that come from? Blessed is the man who meditates upon the law of God. where everything he does shall prosper. That's not talking about just the individuals. That's talking about worldwide. And here's the United States of America. We're $15 trillion in debt. But if we this day would return to the biblical principles of economics, that just in a few years, we could turn that around to a $15 trillion surplus. Why are they raging at us? Why do the heathen rage? Why is it constant? I hate to quote the poor guys dead now, but why can't we just all get along? Why do we have to attack one another? Why do they feel a need to destroy the very foundation of America? Constantly, constantly, constantly after us? I mean, to such a degree that I know some of the older people in this congregation, they're just shaking their head. They're asking themselves, how in the world did this great nation that went and fought this great war of aggression by Germany, we fought this thing and we defeated You look back on some of those things. You read the history of that. Do you realize that even as late as the Battle of the Bulge, we were not real sure if we were going to win that thing? Great sacrifices. And when the American flag blowing in the breeze, that sense of wonder. You know what I'm talking about? That love that fills your heart? That pride that is appropriate pride? What happened? What happened? Constant. Why do the heathen rage? Rage. Not just wonder. but rage. And why the kings or the people imagine a vain thing? You see what the Bible says about this? This word, imagine, could mean kind of making it up in your mind. See, imagine. Imagine there's no heaven. It's easy if you try. No hell below us. Above us only sky. Imagine all the people living life in peace. But you say, I'm a dreamer. I'm not the only one. Why don't you come and join us? And then the world will be as one." What a theme of the heathen that flows right out of this text. But see, also the word imagine could mean meditate, that they are constantly thinking about how do we get out from under this God stuff. Sad thing about it is there are people sitting in churches doing the same thing. I talked with a guy yesterday who's an independent Methodist. That's like being a square circle. I mean, it is a foreign concept. But the whole idea of Methodism is hierarchical. It comes out of the Episcopalian view. But he's independent. Why? As we can't go with them anymore. Our church left in 1965. Well, that's progressive, that's a forward thinking church, they saw it in 1965. They. See that the church itself, you see, the church itself is imagining. And see, here's what the Apostle Paul tells, writes to the church at Corinth, that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. They're not fleshly. But they are mighty through God, through the pulling down of strongholds and everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Every imagination of the heart of man that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, the heathen raging. The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, against Jehovah and against His anointed. This is Psalm 2. This is buried in the heart of the Old Testament. And he's talking about anointed. You know what that means? You know what the word anointed means? It means Messiah. Christ. So they are warring against the Lord, and any time you see the word Jehovah or the Lord or God in contradistinction to Christ, it's talking about the Father. So they're warring against the Father, the Lord. and against His Christ. Let us break, and here's what the heathens are saying, let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us. We will not allow Him to bind us. We will not follow His arcane and ancient rules. We will not obey. If He tries to put a cord on us, we will break the cord. If he tries to bind us with his truth, we will destroy and all the kings of the earth come together. You see, now all of a sudden this political, all of a sudden it's statism. You see it clearly here. Look at what the text is telling us. You see, it is the political powers that are coming against this Christ. You would think it would be religious powers, but for every time you read anything about religious powers coming against the gospel and coming against Christ and coming against the word of God. You read you read many more times. It is the governments that come against it. It is the kings of the earth. It is it is the nations that come against Christ. And you see, even from Christ's vantage point, he is the. Religion of religions. Is that what is that what Christ is the religion of religions? Oh, He's the King of... He's the Lord of Lords. You think you're a king? Bow to the King, because He's the King of Kings. You think you're a Lord? You bow to the Lord, because He's the Lord of Lords. You see, now all of a sudden, it's a state. It's a political thing. Because there is no political entity that has ever arisen in the earth among men That did not come from religion. Most of it from false religion. A little of it. Bless God, the one that's influenced us historically. From the true religion, Christ. But they still war. They still fight. Remember the image in Daniel? Remember the king had a dream, couldn't remember the dream? This is the day you did not want to be a soothsayer, because you're about to get exposed here, boys. So he calls all the soothsayers together and all the diviners to give them a divination. And he said, now look, I got this dream. I want you to give me the explanation. They said, OK, great. Give us the dream. He said, I can't remember it. I want you to remember my dream and then give me the explanation. And you got about 15 seconds or I'm killing every one of you. Daniel. See, the ones that hated him, despised him, couldn't stand him, when he got in a bind, what did he do for him? I tell you, every time anything happens to America, the churches all of a sudden get full. They're not full today. The people today are on the beaches. The people today are in the mountains. The people today, they don't care. You let something disastrous happen this afternoon, this place will be filled. Daniel, Daniel said, look, O King, Don't kill all these people. Let me go inquire of the Lord. And I'll be back. Remember, he came back, he said, here's what your dream was. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right. What was it? An image. And Daniel predicted, in fact, so minutely that the people who don't believe the Bible The the Bible scholars that just cannot believe anything could be predicted so minutely, they had to say Daniel was written after the event. Because it's the only way it could have been, because nobody could have known any of it. It had to be after the event, because surely we don't believe in that God stuff. Why do the heathen rage? Babylon's the head. Then came the Medo-Persian Empire, then the Greeks, then Rome, and then the Roman Empire breaks into ten kingdoms, historically the toes of the image. Not nine, not eight, not twelve, ten. That's political history. We were talking the other day about the marathon. Well, it wasn't quite a marathon. It was a 5K. I don't care if it's a 5K or 10K or a marathon. I'm not running it. I'm not walking it. I might look down it. And I said, do you all know where the word marathon came from? Well, no. Or a marathon came from the plains of Marathon, when the Persians tried to attack the Greeks, and the Greeks took their last stand, and the Persians had them far outnumbered, but the Greeks took a stand, and they won. And this guy, I think Pheidippides, it doesn't matter, say anything that sounds Greek, he runs from the plains of Marathon, 26 miles, 324 feet. and says Nike, which means victory. Hence, we get the word Nike shoes. Put those shoes on, you're guaranteed victory. Pretty presumptuous to name a shoe victory before you ever took a step, but there it is. And drop dead. I mean the boy drop dead, not the shoe. He ran 26 miles, dropped dead. Ha! Well, that tells me not to run a marathon. I'll tell you what, I ain't very smart, but I know enough about that. That boy died, and he was in shape. I'd run 26 steps and die, but it's all around us, you see. This is history. And you remember what happened to that image? that there was a rock cut out of the mountain without hands. I mean, it didn't, not the rock. It's not saying the rock didn't have hands, but it didn't. But this rock came out of this mountain, no human effort brought this rock out of this mountain. And this rock came rolling down and destroyed the image. And then the rock grew and filled the earth. And that rock is Christ and His church. And why do the heathens rave? And the people gather themselves to imagine a vain. It's vain, my friend, to think that you're going to outdo God. It's vain to think you're going to run from God. It is vain to think that you're going to escape. the wrath of God. It is vain for you to think you could defeat God. It's all a vain thing. And listen, and I know we have to be finished. I was wondering what I was going to preach next week. Now I know. Let us break their bands. That is, the Lord and His anointed, and cast away their courts. He that sitteth in the heavens shall last. What? My little depraved grandson. He knows I sit in the corner. Of the love seat. Nearest the table. Where my computer in my glasses and all my books that I'm reading the 15 books that I've started. There they are. I get up. I walk to the refrigerator to get me a little refreshment. Reading makes you thirsty. I come back and he doesn't have quite the concept of I and my down. So he says, my place, my sit here. I said, you're not sitting there. Oh, yeah, I'm sitting here. I said, you're not going to sit here. I'm telling you, you are not sitting in my place. No, my place, my place, my place, my. You think that's obnoxious? So. I walk over like any loving grandfather. Place my tea down on the little round thing that Paula makes me put my glass on. I pick him up and throw him to the other side of the love seat. And sit down. And he wants to try to attack me. One little backhand, that's the end of that. See, I'm laughing. He's after me. He had the Batman mask on and he's after me. And I'm laughing. That's what God's doing. He's laughing. You think you're going to defeat Him? I tell you what, if you had an ounce of brain, if you had an ounce of discernment, you would bow to Him instead of fight Him. The Lord shall have them in the region, and shall He speak unto them in His wrath, and vex them in His sword as pleasure. Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion. I've set my King. I've set my King on the hill. Raise all you want. I laugh. I declared the decree. The Lord had said unto me now it's wait a second now someone else is speaking. Now here's another person speaking. It is Christ speaking now. I will declare the decree. The Lord has said unto me thou art my son. This day I have forgotten thee. Now I can go into all that. I'll have to do that next week, but he did. But we'll talk about being forgotten. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thine possession. I'll give them to you. And thou shalt break them with a rod of iron." Were you expecting that? You were expecting that, and you'll say, You break them with a rod of iron. Dash them into pieces like a potter's vessel. In Psalm 1, the heathen are chained. In Psalm 2, they are broken shards of a potter's vessel. Be wise now. Therefore, O ye kings, be instructed, ye judges of the earth, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling." To serve the Lord only with fear would be a terror. To serve the Lord only with joy would be presumption. But here is the emulsion of fear and joy shaken together to produce one fuel whereby we should go to the altar and pour it before our Lord, rejoicing fear and fearful rejoicing. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry. And when his wrath is kindled but a little, he doesn't have to heat it seven times hotter. Just a snort and you will perish. O ye sinner, seek his grace, whose wrath you cannot bear. fly for shelter to the cross and find salvation there. you