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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
Why Do The Heathen Rage
| Sermon ID | 87122127513 |
| Duration | 43:12 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - AM |
| Bible Text | Psalm 2 |
| Language | English |
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