Sermon Transcript:

Pastor Thom Rittichier
Kenya is the nation that we are focusing on. Kenya is a unique nation in regards to the fact that there is some instability at this time yet with that there is persecution, violence and a lot of pressure there for the folks in that nation. So I’m going to ask you to keep them in prayer, keep up to date on what is going on there. This is Pray for the World Day. And we’re going to do that this morning. Father in heaven, as we pray for the world, praying around the world, for those most persecuted nations, we lift up Kenya to you. We are grateful, Lord, that you have accomplished a work in this country that has been going on for a good period of time. And yet the internal violence, the internal pressure and distress on the believers there makes it such that it is more frightening than in our nation to speak clearly about Jesus. There is always an opposition to doing that. We have an adversary whose name is called the Adversary, Satan. And sometimes he gets people in high places to work the oppression on your people. And such as the case in Kenya and we pray for them, Lord, in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.

Well, we’ve definitely been in April weather this week, have ‘t we. I think in March, we had some seventy degree days. Hopefully, we’ll see that again. But I’m not sure when. I’ll ask you to open your Bible with me to Psalms, the Book of Psalms, which we’ve begun. As you’re turning there, I’d like to bring up this. What is up with this? Now I’m about to show you may be startling to you. It may take you back a bit, because you’re going to see grown men. And well, I’ll just show it to you. What is up with this? (showing pictures of Pro Football players and coaches kissing the Lombardi Trophy) You see this? Do you recognize any of those faces? I mean, these are macho guys. These are guys who are known for manning up and keeping that stance of manning up. Do you recognize any of them? How about this one? Drew Brees. Yeah. How about this one? Coach of Kansas City, Andy Reed. Let’s see over there, Travis Kelsey. And over beside him, Rob Gronkowski. How about up here? Patrick Mahomes. And this guy here, he’s done this a couple of times, Tom Brady. Yep. You know, what is up with this anyway? Here are these macho guys and all of a sudden they go all kissy face! And it’s kind of weird. They get jewelry that they can show off. And some of them have lots of pieces of jewelry to show off. And it gets weird. I mean, this gets weird. There are grown men, burly men. Some men take the names of these guys and put them on their shirts. And they wear them around because…this is my man! And they wear the jersey of that guy. This is my man! Then these players go all kissy face! What is up with this?

And oh, by the way, that’s the same way a lot of people look at a statement that God makes to us in Psalm 2, where he says this, “kiss the son”, “kiss the son”. What? Really? What’s up with that? “Kiss the son, kiss the son lest he be angry”. Well, let’s think about this for a minute. Why are these macho men going all kissy face here? To win, right? That’s the ultimate goal, that’s what we’re after. And it takes a little investment on their part to do that, like investment of a whole bunch of energy, and a whole bunch of time, and a whole bunch of sacrifice and a lot of pain to be the winner. But when you’re the winner, then there is the respect and the renown and the advertising contracts. Right? And there is reward for this. Okay, let’s just talk here. Do you think this kissing the trophy thing is weird? A little bit? Okay. Not weird at all to some. We’ve seen it a lot of times, we’re accustomed to it. Yeah. It’s happens every year! All the time. These are grown men. Doing this kissy face thing here.

Here’s a note from the New Testament. “Every athlete exercises self-control in all things.” They put themselves into it during the season, in all things, there’s bedtimes, there’s diets, there’s regulations and all kinds of things. And they exercise this self-control and “they do it to obtain a perishable crown”. Something that is just for a year or so. And then there is the frustration of it being lost. But we do this exercise of ourselves “for an imperishable crown”, for one that goes on forever, 1 Corinthians 9:25. And there’s a whole bunch bigger reason to get kissy face with the son. I mean, if the macho men of our generation do this, what about for the eternal generation?

In Psalm number two, we come to what is called a royal psalm. It’s royal because even though it deals with our earth, it takes us up to the place of the regal rule of God. And what transpires here, the pictures that are presented here, will kind of take you back a bit. But they are pictures of what’s real. This is real, as we look at the earth, from the viewpoint of the High Court of heaven. This is regal. And as a matter of fact, I’ve attempted to put this together as we go through it, so you get the impression of how regal this is. This is called a royal psalm because it’s about the king. And this is the king in his high position. And it’s about the earth as the king deals with the position. I want to read Psalms 2 with you. “Why do the nations rage and the peoples devise plots in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, his Messiah, 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 you 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, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, 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 regal.

This is the command of heaven concerning the earth and the activities of human beings, the people’s making up the nation on the earth. I want you to know that this psalm is impressive. And it takes me back because it’s the picture of Earth from heaven. And this is the picture of what’s true. We’re not putting up theory. We’re putting up what plays out, has and will play out, as described by the New Testament to us, what plays out in people’s lives. I want to pray with you for a moment. Lord, as we come before your regal presence, I pray that you will open our hearts to understand what transpires here. Father, it is cause for us to pause. And for us to remember where we’re at in this world, on Earth. Grant us grace to follow the counsel of this psalm. In Jesus name, amen. Here in this psalm, we see the true character of God. And we see the true position of people with this King. This is what we’re going to look at in this psalm. It’s like being in a courtroom, because it is laid out so well, it’s like the court recorder sitting there and taking all the notes. And it is laid out so precisely, so specifically. And there are four major things that are talked about here. And what is talked about first is, why is and what is this insurrection that’s going on? What is this opposition in being against that’s raised here, verses 1-3. Then second, who has and what do we make of this reaction that comes towards this insurrection, verses 4-6. Then it moves on to the third stanza, who brings and when is this declaration, this decree, it’s a decree that goes out, like Caesar Augustus, but on a much higher level, for all the world to be taxed. This is a decree that goes out for all the world to take note of, verses 7-9. And then finally, now comes this intercession, this going to, on the behalf and for someone else, that’s made, verses 10-12. This is a regal psalm. It’s a royal psalm. And it’s also what’s known as Messianic Psalm. It’s the psalm of Gods Anointed, his Christ. And it’s spoken about repeatedly in the New Testament that way. As a matter of fact, this is the only psalm in the New Testament that is stated by name. And it’s the most quoted psalm in the New Testament, as it plays out and yet will again play out fully. That’s the nature of this psalm and the God who is there.

You need to see this because it’s so overwhelming. Let’s start with this. Why is and what is this insurrection? This psalm begins with a question. It’s a question that is posed. It’s a question that is posed in Acts chapter four, the apostle Peter is talking in reference to this psalm. And he says, David, who was king, by the Holy Spirit said, “Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed”, verses 25-26. Peter does that. So in the New Testament, they recognize the psalm being by King David and it was describing amsituation that had occurred to David, because it’s a psalm about the coronation of the king. And in the Old Testament, let me quote for you a statement that is made about David by the Lord, the King of Heaven. It comes in 2 Samuel 7:14, God declares this, “I will be his father”, he’s talking about David, “and he shall be my son. If he commits iniquity”, God says this about David. And did David do that? Yeah, he got pretty twisted there. David did. “If he commits iniquity, I will descipline him with a rod of men, and with the blows of the sons of men.” God is going to discipline him, he’s going to correct him. He’s going to bring him in line. “But my mercy shall not depart from him. As I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. And your house and your kingdom”, speaking of David, “shall be established forever. Before you, it shall be establish your throne will be established forever”. That was a statement that was the historical background when David was installed, as King. We would call it being inaugurated, what they, in a kingdom call it is a coronation. There was a coronation of the king put in place, inaugurated. And this psalm starts out with a statement that David experienced. But the New Testament points out that David was speaking about, by the Holy Spirit, the future. That’s described here. That’s what makes this psalm a Messianic Psalm. It’s a psalm about God’s Anointed and what he will be on the earth. It is a royal, Messianic Psalm.

Verse 1, Why do the nations, it starts, the people, why are the peoples, now he’s talking specifically about the the humans that live in the nations on the earth. Why do they rage? The word refers to being all stirred up. Why do they get it in an uproar? It is the word that’s used in Psalm one where he says, he meditates. And what this is, why are they getting all stirred up with what’s going on, over and over and over and over. What are they’re muttering over and saying, concerning the events and the circumstances and what they’re in and what they’re experiencing. Why are they in an uproar over this? Why are they all stirred up? Why all the commotion, as it goes over and over and over in their thoughts and in their hearts and in their minds? Why is this?

He’s going to answer that. But before he does that, he gets a little bit more specific about the situation. The court recorder notes what’s going on. We’re in the court of heaven, remember, and the recorder is telling us this, the kings of the earth, verse two…and when he’s talking about the earth, he’s talking about our planet. He’s talking about this earth, that we are on, our world, this earth….the kings of the earth set themselves, they take a position. And remember this is the high kingdom of God, looking down, and what he sees in the commotion…do we see any commotion that takes place? Have you been on social media lately? Lots of commotion going on…It’s the position they set themselves, they set themselves and the rulers of the world. He’s talking about the people who are in positions of jurisdiction to give power, political leadership, that would be the case, the rulers, the rulers take counsel together. And then he says, this twice, against the Lord, and against his Messiah, his Anointed. This is the word from which we get Christ in the New Testament, it means anointed. In the Old Testament it is referred to as the Messiah. And here’s what the court of heavens sees, that it records for us, in the commotion are the stands that are taken against the one who is the great, I AM, always in forever what we need, I AM. And against the anointed one that he has. They take a stand that is in opposition to them, to their position. And this gets real specific here. Because it says this for us. Why is it in an uproar? Why is it standing against the Lord, against his Christ? The answers this. It’s desire. It’s what we want. Now, I’m not just making that up. That’s what’s made clear to us in 2 Peter 1:4, the Lord tells us that all “the corruption that is in this world is because of” what people want, their desire, what they want. For us, particularly as believers, Pastor James in the New Testament tells us this, “Each one is tempted and carried away by his own desires”, by what you want, we are lured off and carried away by what we want. “And when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin”, missing the mark that God has given us as his direction, it brings forth sin. “And sin when it’s full grown brings forth death.” James 1:14-15. It kills you, it kills you! That’s what it does. It’s what it does. It’s always done that, it will always do that. It is the way of misery. But sometimes what we want, it looks so cool. And it draws us all. Well, yeah, your sin looks pretty bad, but mine. Mine seems pretty reasonable. You know what I mean? Yeah, I can see how that would play out. For us. It’s an uproar because of what we want, our desires .Now don’t get me wrong, Jesus had desires. He said that clearly, “with desire, I have desired to eat this Passover with you”. It’s just when the desire gets out of line, it’s when it gets so strong, that we’re willing to disregard God and disregard his directions in order to have what I want, and we put him off, we put him away, we forget about him in this area, that’s sin. And don’t think that we’re the only generation that does this. John Calvin, speaking about this said, “Our hearts are a factory of producing these things that we want instead of God.” We want it so badly. Why are the nations in an uproar? It’s this desire thing. What the peoples want. The kings and the rulers take their stand here. They counsel together each other on this. And in James 4:1-3, he says to believers, “What is the cause for fights and quarrels among you? What’s the basis for strife? Is it not your own desires? You want and you can’t have. So you fight and quarrel. You don’t have because you don’t ask. And you ask and don’t receive because you want to consume it on your own desires.” That why it’s in an uproar! It’s centered in what we want. What do you want?, parents say. Mom, Mom, Mom. What do you want!?! Of course, no mom says it like that, right?

This situation is observed on our Earth, from the court of heaven. And this goes somewhere. The assertion is made. Here’s where it goes. Verse three, “Let us burst their bonds apart.” The bonds are the things that restrain us, you know, like a kite is restrained by that string that holds it. This is the bond, the bond to the kite is that string that holds it. And what they say is, cut this bond, tear it off, tear it off, and they describe it here. Of course, this is a poetic statement, “and cast away their cords”, this thing that entangles us to them, break us free. By the way, do you know what happens to a kite when it’s broken free from its string? It crashes. It crashes because there’s nothing to hold it up there and the winds just drive it down. It needs its restraint in order to fly. It needs its restraint. Let us break free of this. So answer, why is the insurrection from desire? And what is the insurrection? Let’s break free of these constraining bonds, these constraints, these restraints that God brings into our lives….Don’t tell me, don’t tell me, I’ve heard words like this. I don’t care what the Bible says. I’ve heard words like that. I don’t care. I think….this is what we want. Wow. The insurrection, this is what heaven sees.

Who has and what is this reaction that comes? I want you to see the reaction here. First of all, the position of the person who has the reaction, verse 4. “He who sits in the heavens”, sits, as in the position of being the one presiding. This is the one on the throne. If we would say it here, it’s the one in the Oval Office, behind the desk, in the chair, the one who presides. Only we need to take it higher than that, much higher than that. It’s the position of he who sits in heaven. Now I want you to notice the contrast here. The ones on the earth are all worked up and stirred up, and the one in heaven sits and presides. He’s not stirred up. He’s not in an uproar over the whole thing. He’s not. As a matter of fact, he laughs…This is absurd. This is ridiculous. This doesn’t make any sense….That the one who designed this and put it together and laid it out for us in all of its detail, that we want to tear free of you know? This doesn’t make any sense. I’ve had kids, I now have grandkids and you know, sometimes kids want to tear free and run out in the street. I’ve had them want to be loose to jump in water that is way over what they can handle. And I’ve had some actually do it! Now, I’m not going to tell any tales on my kids. I’ll just leave it general. I’ve had daughters who wanted to, in the Chicago land area, run out by themselves, unrestrained. I’m not going to go into detail of them. There’s more detail there that would make your eyebrows go up. I have grandkids who want to run away and be free. Do you know what I’m talking? Have you had any? That’s ridiculous! You’ll die! And one grandkid that even say, “if I do that, I’ll die? I’ll die?” And yet, that doesn’t restrain them because they’ve got no picture or understanding of what they’re dealing with. They’ve got no idea of what this is. And the laugh is, This is absurd. This is absurd. It’s ridiculous.

He laughs and his assertion counters their assertion. He says this, verse five, “Then he will speak to them in his wrath.” The Lord, sitting in heaven, laughs, he holds them in derision. This isn’t making sense. “Then he speaks to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury saying”. He will speak to this, he will address this. And you know, when God speaks, what happens? God says, Let there be and what happens? It’s there. This is the court of heaven we’re dealing with. We are given a glimpse into the court of heaven. And he says, I will speak to this, then he will speak to them in his wrath and what this indicates, it indicates the face, he’s going to speak to them in the face. And it speaks the face that is doing this, breathing heavy, huffing and puffing. Have you ever noticed when somebody gets angry how they start to, if they’re really angry, their respiration gets fast and heavy and their nostrils flare. I personally can’t do that. But here, it’s this flaring nostrils. In regards to being angry with him, he gets angry with us. And he terrifies them. That means, causes them to tremble inwardly, in his expression, in his fury, and he gives us resolution.

I want you to see this resolution. His resolution that he speaks is this, we’re looking at the character of God with peoples and nations and kings and rulers who are standing against him for what they want. And it makes him angry. And so he speaks to them as to how he will handle this. And how he will handle it is in verse six. “I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” He’s talking about setting up his king, on this same Earth, he’s going to set up his king. Contrary to the kings of the earth and the rulers, he sets his king, and it’s not that he is going to, it’s like this is a done deal. I HAVE set my king. And the hill of Zion, by the way, is a reference to Jerusalem, Zion, the hill of Zion was there by Jerusalem, and he’s saying, I am setting my king on Jerusalem. That’s my resolution to this. That’s my resolution. We’re looking at the character of God. Let’s see, on a previous occasion, in the book of Genesis, we knew that it grieved God, at His heart, in Genesis six, that he made man on the earth. Because the thoughts of their hearts were only harmful, hurtful, painful in their choices, continuously. Therefore, it grieved God that He made man on the earth. And he says, I will not always strive with him. And he gives him a time period that he’s going to strive with man on the earth. And then you know what comes, the flood. It’s no surprise. He had a guy named the Methuselah, who lived 900 plus years, and his name meant this, When he dies, it comes. And when Methuselah died, the flood came. Now I’m giving you a picture of God’s response to sin, based on our desires, that are out of line with his directions. That’s his response. And what he says here, as a resolution to this, to counter they’re breaking free from him, is I’m setting my king in Jerusalem. That’s what I’m doing. That’s what I’m doing.

Now we shift again to the third picture by the court stenographer, by the one who’s recording all this. And we go to this, we go to this declaration, this declaration of installing the king, of the king being inaugurated. It’s already a done deal. The king is inaugurated to rule from Jerusalem. That’s what he’s saying here. Who brings this declaration? And when is this declaration? I want you to see this. Go with me to verse seven, where there’s a shift and someone else speaks. So far we’ve had the peoples, the kings, the nations speaking, and then God, Yahweh, out of heaven speaking to install his king, and now this king speaks. “I will tell of the decree”. The declaration that has been issued from the court of heaven. I will tell you the decree. Here it is, a proclamation quoted, “The Lord said to me”, the one who’s talking is quoting the Lord. “The Lord said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you.” Today, I have started you, today. You know, two times in the New Testament we heard this phrase, two different occasions. One at the baptism, where it’s said like this, This is my beloved Son, whom I love. This is my beloved Son, whom I love. That was at the baptism of Jesus Christ, where that sound came from heaven. I am well pleased with him. That was at Jesus commencement of his ministry, at his baptism. Then at the Mount of Transfiguration, when Jesus was changed before their eyes. He was transfigured in into the person that he is, he was transfigured there, and the Father spoke. And there was Elijah, and there was Moses, and they were laying out the plan of what was going to be coming down at Jerusalem when they were doing that. And they saw him transfigured to that glory that he has. This statement was made from heaven, and I quote, This is my son, whom I love. I am well pleased with him. Listen to him. That came from heaven. If you’d like the verses on that, The baptism-Matthew 3:17, Mark 1:11, Luke 3:22. The Father speaks from heaven at his transfiguration-Matthew 7:5, Mark 9:7, Luke 9:35. Who is this? The Father says it twice. God, you know, you really have been clear here. What are you thinking? What do you think? Here’s what he’s thinking. This is my son. whom I love. I’m well pleased with him. This to him. Okay, let’s take a vote on that. How many think that’s clear? Clear? How many? Okay, that’s clear.

This is his resolution to man, standing against him by what they want, going contrary to his direction. Paul, when he’s talking about this, quotes verbatim Psalm two. And he says this, And we bring you the good news, that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us, their children, by raising Jesus from the dead, as also it was written in the second psalm. You are my Son. Today, I have begotten you. Paul quotes psalm 2 and says, It’s Jesus. It’s Jesus in His resurrection. It’s God’s resolution. It’s Jesus. And in Hebrews 5, it quotes that same thing saying, he has been made high priests. Here’s the point, Jesus is the Prophet. I’ll tell you the decree that the Lord has said to me, he is the priest. He’s made the high priest. God made him the high priest. He made him the high priest by installing him, in begetting him as a Son, and he has made him king. I have set my king in Jerusalem. Folks, I want you to know, this was hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years before Jesus appeared on the scene. And they point to this and say, This is the Old Testament God of Israel who has installed his king, and that king is Jesus, whom he verified by raising him from the dead. That’s what this is. It’s a Messianic Psalm.

Now, this goes somewhere. There is jurisdiction that is granted to him. He has the call. Look with me at verse eight. “Ask of me,” the Lord says to the king, “and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth will become your possession.” This is your jurisdiction, this is granted to you…the ends of the earth, all of the nations. They are your jurisdiction. I give them to you. This was fought against, this was fought against when Jesus was here. The statements that were made is we will not have this man rule over us. And he was fought against. As a matter of fact, the Apostle Paul said this, Acts 4:25-28, “For truly in this city, Jerusalem, there were gathered together against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel.” And they reference this gathering of the nations against him. And then it says, They gathered together against him, “the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel to do whatever your hand and your plan has predetermined to take place.” That happened against Jesus, just like he said, and it’s coming down again. Revelation 19:19, the nations of the world gathered together against him, they gather together against him. And Revelation 19:15, what he does is he takes charge with the rod of iron and that’s what’s coming down.

This is happening again. And folks, this is beyond you. This is beyond me. The only thing that I’m doing here is giving you a picture of what’s taking place from the High Court of heaven. The ruler there has determined this and it’s been given to Jesus and he will apply this resolution, Psalm 2:9, “You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Do you know what a potter’s vessel is? It’s those pots made of red clay. Have you ever seen it break? They break pretty easily. And this is what happens. This King in charge will dash all the opposition to pieces. It will be gone. It would be extinguished. It’s the resolution applied. And what takes place then, after Revelation 19, is for 1000 years this King rules and reigns from Jerusalem. Okay, this is pretty startling. Let me just say this is the High Court of heaven. This is the decree, the King is telling you, that comes from the Lord God. That’s what this is.

Final point…now. Oh thank God for this! Thank God for this, now comes this intercession. Now comes someone appealing to us, for our good on God’s behalf. Look what he says, verse number 10, “Now therefore, O kings, be wise.” Caution expressed to the kings, to the rulers, be wise. “Kings, be warned.” Kings be cautious. Don’t pass this off, be wise, be warned. Then the resolution is pressed home, verse 11, “Serve the Lord with fear.” Listen to his restraints, have enough respect for who he is to take it to heart. You know, I’ve got a book here called “When People are Big and God is Small” by Edward Welch. And in this book, I learned something really, really valuable. What I learned was about the fear of the Lord, that it is an apprehension about not listening to him and not going his way. It’s an apprehension of overcoming that desire. Not listening to him and not going his way, that’s where this fear of the Lord begins. And then it grows to the place where you see His love and His kindness. That what is stated in Hosea chapter 11 is true, that these chords, these restraints are His love and His kindness to us. So we deeply come to respect him. That’s the fear of the Lord, all the way from apprehension to a deep respect. You know, I need that apprehension sometimes, because I get some desires contrary to him, and they get going in my head. And I need to say, wait a minute here, who am I dealing with, and be apprehensive. And I need to keep growing to the place that I come to a deep respect, deep respect for who he is, and what he has in mind for our good, fear the Lord he says. And serve him with fear and get this when he says, “rejoice with trembling”. Rejoice because this is our good, but it kind of makes me tremble not to go some other way. Serve the Lord. Rejoice with fear and trembling.

And this one, here it is. This is the biggie, verse 12, “Kiss the Son.” Kiss the Son, what’s is that? What’s up with that? Kiss the Son! Grown men do it for a perishable crown, a trophy. And here we have this imperishable crown, the Son. Embrace the Son, get in line with the Son, go to the Son, give place to the Son, listen to the Son as if he is your life because he IS your life. Kiss the Son. Because in a little while, this passage says, because in a little while, his wrath is going to be kindled.

The option, look at this, this is so sweet. The option is to be happy. Be blessed. “Blessed are all who take refuge in him,” those who run to him, who go to him to be safe, to be protected. Run to him. So, Psalm one and two go together because Psalm 1:1 says, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers.” And here, in Psalm 2:12, you see from this High Court of heaven, Blessed, truly happy are you when you run to him to be protected. It’s the High Court of heaven. What is here is really high court. It is of the high King of Heaven. I want to appeal to you. If you’ve kind of, you know, just push the Lord aside a little bit and focused on what you want. Be wise. Listen to him, be warned. I didn’t make this up. This is from the High Court of heaven, as recorded in the Bible. And you can be truly happy, by him being what fills your sight, your vision