Good morning. My name is Matthew Capone and I'm the pastor here at Cheyenne Mountain Presbyterian Church and it's my joy to bring God's word to you today.
If you are new or visiting with us, welcome. We're glad that you're here.
And we're glad that you're here not because you are filling a seat, but because we're following after Jesus together as one community.
And as we follow after Jesus together, we're convinced that there's no one so good that they don't need God's grace and no one so bad that they can't have it.
Which means that we're glad that you're here to listen to what God has to say to us because God has something to say to everyone.
He has something to say to you, whether you've been a Christian your entire life, whether you've been a Christian for a few years, or whether you're still not sure whether you want to be a Christian.
God has something to say to everyone and everyone needs to hear what God has to say.
You know that we've just started a series in the book of Psalms.
And the book of Psalms is the hymn book, the prayer book of God's people originally in the Old Testament and has now become the same for God's people in the New Testament.
And if you've been with us for a while, you know that I like to give sort of a quick, maybe one-sentence, two-sentence way of summarizing a book.
So, Philippians, we talked about the fact that it was partnership in the gospel together.
And Nehemiah was God's wall in his word and his ways, turning back from sin and repentance back to God.
And I have had a lot of trouble coming up with a short way of summarizing the Psalms for you.
And part of the reason I've had trouble coming up with a short way is because the Psalms, as a hymn book and a prayer book, talk about all sorts of different things.
I would love to tell you that there's one theme that ties it together, except that there's lots and lots of themes.
And I would like to tell you that there's one topic, except the Psalms covers all sorts of situations that we find in the human life.
And so it's hard to summarize it quickly or shortly.
And so what I'm going to do is I'm just going to give you different aspects of it Sunday after Sunday.
So one thing I'll tell you about the Psalms is this.
The Psalms are poetry.
One thing that's helpful about poetry, if you know poetry, if you study it, if you love it, is that poems often make complicated things simple.
Poems make complicated things simple.
Sometimes they take things that seem chaotic and they order them for us.
So we love the fact that there's rhyme or rhythm in a poem.
There's stanzas.
Those stanzas give an order and a rhythm to things that might not otherwise have order or rhythm.
And so part of the joy of the Psalms is these are often very short.
And they're very short passages that make complicated things simple.
So as we come to Psalm 2 this morning, we're going to look at something that's very complicated.
And God's going to tell us that it's very simple.
There's many things that we face in life that seem complex.
One of them is it feels like often when we live in this world that evil is winning.
Maybe it feels like that some of the time.
Maybe it feels like that most of the time.
Sometimes it feels like evil forces are the most powerful forces.
And so it's tempting for us, whether we're Christians or we're not Christians, to be discouraged.
And even more than that, more specifically, we see evil rulers.
People who have power and influence.
Who, instead of loving God, hate God.
And instead of following what he has told us, they come up with their own ways.
And so what is God's answer to evil rulers?
How are we supposed to think about the power of evil in this world, especially when we see it with kings and presidents and princes and CEOs?
That's the complicated question that this psalm asks and answers.
And so we're going to turn to it now.
We're in Psalm chapter 2, starting at verse 1.
And remember that this is God's word.
And God tells us in another part of the psalms that his word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.
In other words, God has not abandoned us.
He's not left us alone to stumble in the dark.
But instead, he's given us our word that we would know the way to walk.
And so it's because of that reason that we read this passage.
And so please read with me Psalm 2, starting at verse 1.
Verse 7.
I will tell of the decree.
The Lord said to me, you are my son.
Today I have begotten you.
Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
Verse 10.
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.
Please pray with me as we come to this portion of God's word.
Father in heaven, we thank you that once again you have not left us to walk alone.
Trying to figure out by ourselves how to live in this world that's full of evil and sin.
Sin that we see inside of ourselves and outside of ourselves.
But instead you come and you talk to us clearly.
Day after day after day.
And so we ask that you would send your Holy Spirit this morning.
That he would help us.
That he would help us to see and to know and to understand everything that you have written for us about you in your word.
We ask these things not because we deserve them.
But because Jesus deserves them for us.
And so we ask them in his name.
Amen.
If you remember from last week we looked at Psalm 1 and we saw that there are two ways and only two ways to live life.
One of them is walking in the counsel of the wicked.
And the other would be meditating on God and his law and his ways day and night.
And if you remember you may recall that this word for meditating from Psalm 1 is literally muttering.
That the people who meditate on God's word they know it so well that they speak it under their breath in all kinds of situations.
Now Psalm 1 and 2 are introductions to the psalms and they go together.
And part of the reason we know that they go together is that there's a play on words that happens here at the very beginning of chapter 2.
Verse 1.
Why do the nations rage and the people's plot in vain?
That word plot is actually the same Hebrew word that showed up in Psalm 1 for meditate, for muttering.
In other words, some people in Psalm 1 are muttering God's words.
They're meditating on God's words.
Other people, these kings in Psalm 2, are muttering in vain.
They're muttering against God.
Some people are muttering God's way.
Some people are muttering against God.
And this is highlighting for us what all of us know, which is that we live in a world that is filled with kings.
We have kings.
We have rulers.
We have powerful people.
Maybe they are actual kings of an actual country.
Maybe they're presidents.
Maybe these people are CEOs of large corporations.
Large corporations, by the way, are becoming more and more powerful to the point that sometimes they do rival countries in their abilities and their influence.
We also know not only that they are powerful people, but also often that these powerful people are very selfish.
We have a world that's true.
What's true of Psalm 2 is still true in the world today.
We have kings and nations and powerful people that still rebel against God.
We have kings who take diversity.
And rather than using it as a gift from God, knowing that he is the one who created it.
They use it as a tool to oppress one people over another and set different races against each other.
We have rulers who have decided that it's their job to change the definition of marriage.
We have rulers who don't necessarily change the definition of marriage, but they change its intention.
They take what God meant to be a blessing to the entire world, and instead they make it something that's about us and our self-fulfillment.
We have kings who use their power to become rich while oppressing the poor.
We have kings who use their power to create advantages for the rich and obstacles for the poor.
They're not just oppressing the poor, but they're making it almost impossible for someone who is poor to no longer be poor.
And then we have kings who come specifically after God's people and his church.
We have kings who try to silence God's people when they speak God's truth.
And then we have kings and nations who use their power to kill and destroy life rather than to protect it.
And so while the Psalms are an ancient book, they're also incredibly modern.
Because we have kings and nations that are always setting themselves against God, and that is just part of living in this world.
Part of living in this world is knowing that we're going to have people who are powerful and in authority,
who are going to do exactly what we see in verses 1 and 2.
They're going to set themselves against God.
So our question is this.
How do we respond to evil kings?
How do you respond to evil kings?
Do you respond with fear?
Maybe you respond with discouragement.
Maybe there's anger.
Sometimes appropriately so.
Maybe there's tribalism.
You retreat just to hang out with people who agree with you about everything.
Maybe we circle the wagons, batten down the hatches.
Maybe we decide that we're victims and everyone's out to get us.
Maybe we get on Facebook and let everyone know how victimized we feel.
How do we respond to evil kings?
How does God respond to evil kings?
We've seen in verses 1 and 2 that they exist.
Really verses 1 and 3.
How does God respond in verses 4 through 6?
God doesn't respond with fear or discouragement or tribalism.
God laughs.
Verse 4.
He who sits in the heavens laughs.
The Lord holds them in derision.
When God looks at the kings who are rebelling against him,
all he can do is think,
that is really cute.
Bless their hearts.
I want you to imagine for a second.
So let's say that we,
I mentioned earlier that Grant and Sarah helped start our youth Sunday school.
Now they've mainly been going through the Westminster Shorter Catechism.
But let's say they decided they were going to have another project.
And maybe they recruit all the other Sunday schools in the church.
And they decide what they're going to do
is not just study God's word together,
but they're going to do something a little bigger as a bonding experience.
They're going to take down Fort Carson.
Now don't laugh.
This church has a lot of resources.
I've looked in the nursery.
We have hand puppets.
We also have a fire engine.
We have a Lightning McQueen look-alike car.
We have a dump truck and a school bus.
There's also a farm in one of the nurseries,
so we can take that with us.
It's not just the nursery, okay?
We had some of our youth yesterday were on the riding lawnmower.
So we've got that as well.
So if we pull all our resources together,
we could have, let's say,
it was Phillip and Annabelle who were on the riding lawnmower.
So one of them takes the front,
takes the lead with the riding lawnmower.
And then we can have some other folks behind with some of the trucks.
And we could go to gate three.
Because we're going to take it,
we're going to take Fort Carson by storm.
What would the guards at Fort Carson do
if they saw a riding lawnmower
and a bunch of our kids with their trucks coming behind
to take down the gate?
Would they shake in fear?
Would they be discouraged?
Would they post on Facebook about how oppressed they are?
No, they would laugh.
And if we really decided we were going to take that gate by storm,
it would not end well.
Psalm 2 tells us that God laughs.
And those who want to take him by storm,
for them it will not end well.
If you think that this story that I've told you is silly,
you are correct.
Because it's silly,
because it's not ridiculous enough.
In other words,
people, the nations,
raging against God and his ways
is actually more ridiculous
than our youth deciding
that they are going to take Fort Carson by force.
God sits, verse 4,
and he laughs.
Where is he sitting, by the way?
He's sitting in the heavens.
Where are the nations?
Verse 2,
the kings of the what?
The kings of the earth.
God has a strong tactical advantage.
There is no greater high ground.
He who sits in heaven laughs.
The Lord holds them in derision.
And so what do we do
when we live in a world
that is filled with evil kings?
First of all,
we need some perspective.
And this psalm helps us get it.
It gives us perspective.
It's easy to live in this world
in this moment
and forget that there have been
other nations and other times
and other peoples
that don't exist anymore.
It's tempting to believe
that who's powerful now
is the most powerful
and will always be powerful.
And so this psalm
helps us get some perspective.
First, it tells us
the nations will not reign forever.
It gives us encouragement.
Nations rise and fall.
We don't need to shake and fear
when we read the news
because ultimately
the Lord will reign
over everyone and everything.
The Lord will reign
over everyone and everything.
And so there's great encouragement
in this psalm.
In fact, I would tell you
that is the main application
of Psalm 2
if you are a Christian.
Be encouraged.
God is the great king.
The nations will not reign forever.
However, there's also
great challenge.
And there's great challenge
because the nations
will not reign forever.
And so if you're a king,
if you're a powerful person,
I don't think we have
any actual kings with us today.
I'd be happy to be corrected
if I'm wrong.
But some of you
are powerful people.
All of us are powerful
in one way or another.
And if you are a king,
congratulations.
You're in charge
of a very small part
of a very small planet
for a very small amount of time.
Anyone that's raging and plotting
in verses 1 through 3
is in charge
of a very small place
on a very small planet
for a very small amount of time.
And so no matter
how powerful you are,
you know,
even the most powerful kings,
some people are great kings,
some people are small kings,
some kings have a little power,
some kings have a lot of power.
Compared to God,
they have no power.
Some kings have a lot of power,
some kings have little power.
Compared to God,
they don't have any power.
And so the nations
will not reign forever.
There's encouragement
for God's people
and discouragement
and challenge
for anyone who forgets
that God is the most powerful king.
God laughs in verses 4 through 6
and then we find out
in verses 6 through 9
why it is that he laughs.
Verse 2,
the kings of the earth
set themselves.
Verse 6,
God says,
guess what?
I can set things up too.
You want to set yourselves
against me?
Well,
I have a king too.
I've set that king
on Zion,
my holy hill.
He talks about this king
as his son.
This language
in the ancient Near East
would have talked about
someone who represents
the interests of the father.
So this son
is a representative
of God on the earth.
Originally,
this psalm
would have been sung
in the Old Testament
so it would have been talking
about the king of Israel.
And yet,
these promises
that are talked about
of the king
are things that
were not fulfilled
by any Old Testament king.
So we see
in verses 8 and 9
this king,
the son of God,
the one who represents
God's interests on the earth,
who represents God
to his people
and to the world.
The nations are going
to be his heritage.
Verse 8,
and the ends of the earth
his possession.
Verse 9,
he's going to break them
with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces
like a potter's vessel.
And so as people
in the Old Testament
read this,
their hope
and their confidence
was that one day,
even though they were
just one nation,
God,
through his king,
through David
and the kings
who came after him
in the Old Testament,
would one day
cause Israel
to rule over the nations.
And so that the king
of Israel,
the earthly king
that the Old Testament
people sang about
in Psalm 2,
would look forward
to not just another king,
a king one day,
but would look forward
to the king.
That was the hope
of God's people
in the Old Testament.
They trusted and hoped
that that would happen,
they just didn't know
how it would happen.
But they looked forward
to this king
and this kingship
and while they were
looking and hoping
and knowing
and trusting
and having confidence
that this would happen,
they saw not that happen
but the very opposite,
right?
Rather than being
over the other nations,
this is part of how
they got themselves
into the problem
of Nehemiah,
the other nations
became over them
because they did not
follow after God.
And so there's this vision
over and over
in the Old Testament,
this promise
that one day
all things are going
to be made right
and this king
is going to come
in God's reign.
His promise here,
the word that he's spoken,
this decree of verse 7
is one day
going to become true.
And while the people
in the Old Testament
thought that this would come
through a political liberator,
instead it happened
in a very different way.
This king of David,
this one who is going
to fulfill,
verses 7 through 9,
ended up not being
a political ruler.
However,
it was a descendant
of David
and it was Jesus.
And when I talk
about Jesus,
some of us perhaps
think all kinds
of different things.
This is not
long, flowing,
pale Jesus
from a picture.
This is not
storybook Jesus.
This is Jesus,
a historical person
who lived in real space,
in real time.
He was born in a town.
He was born in a town
called Bethlehem,
which was five or six miles
south of the city
of Jerusalem.
And then he grew up
in a town called Nazareth,
which was 64 or 65 miles
north of Jerusalem.
Okay, he was a real person.
Jesus had brothers
and sisters.
He was probably
an oldest,
unless Joseph had
children from
a previous marriage.
The Gospels tell us
he had four brothers.
We hear of two sisters.
He may have had
more than that.
And so when I say
Jesus is the fulfillment
of this,
I am talking about
a real man
who lived in real time
and real space,
who had real brothers
and sisters,
a real mother and father.
He walked on the earth.
He lived in this world
for 30 years.
He worked with his hands.
He was a carpenter
or a builder.
And this man,
who as we talked about
before Easter,
came into Jerusalem
on a donkey
rather than a horse,
is the one
that is going to be
the king
that the Lord
has begotten
from verse 7.
Now I told you
last week,
I think,
or maybe I mentioned
it in a Friday email,
that the book of Psalms
is quoted
in the New Testament
more than any other
Old Testament book.
So the New Testament
quotes the Psalms
more than the 38
other books
of the Old Testament.
Not only is the Psalms
the most quoted
Old Testament book
in the New Testament,
but Psalm 2,
this Psalm,
is of all the Psalms,
the one that's most quoted
in the New Testament.
This is the top-hit Psalm.
And the reason
it's the top-hit Psalm
is because author
after author
applies this Psalm
to Jesus.
It happens in Hebrews
chapter 1.
It happens in 1 Corinthians.
It happens twice
in the book of Acts.
When people are preaching,
they say,
and this is the fulfillment,
that Jesus is the one
who has come to fulfill
Psalm 2,
verses 7 through 9.
It doesn't just happen,
by the way,
in the letters
that people write
in the New Testament.
It also happens
in the Gospels.
And it happens
in the Gospels
when Jesus is baptized
because we hear
a voice of the Father
speaking from heaven
and he says what?
This is my son.
It's an echo
of Psalm 2
and also 2 Samuel 7
when David is anointed.
The Lord said to me,
you are my son.
Verse 7.
In other words,
at Jesus' baptism,
he was anointed
as the Psalm 2 king.
And everyone else
throughout the rest
of the New Testament
saw Jesus
as the Psalm 2 king.
And it's even echoed
more than that
in Matthew chapter 28
when Jesus sends out
his disciples.
He says,
go therefore
into all nations.
Right?
Verse 8.
Ask of me
and I will make
the nations
your heritage
and the ends
of the earth
your possession.
When Jesus said
that he almost
certainly had
Psalm 2 in mind.
And so,
what do we do
with evil kings?
God laughs.
And God laughs
because he has
a great king.
He has a king
that's greater
than all the other kings.
And so,
there's a sense
in which
we can laugh
as well.
Now,
I'm not saying
that there aren't
things to be afraid
of in this world.
There aren't things
that we need
to pray for
earnestly.
We're told
to pray for rulers
in 1 Timothy 2.
There aren't things
that we should be
cautious about
and wary of.
But God
is our great king.
And he has sent us
Jesus
as his
great king.
There is no other king
in all the nations
who can challenge him.
In fact,
he is going to,
verse 9,
break them with
a rod of iron
and dash them
in pieces
like a potter's vessel.
And so,
that leaves us
just like we had
last week
with two options
in verses 10-12.
And our two options
are this.
We can either
take refuge
or we can rebel.
It tells us
in verse 12,
blessed are all
who take refuge
in him.
So just like we saw
one path
is following after God
in Psalm 1,
it's the same
in Psalm 2.
There are those
who take refuge
in God.
And then,
there are those
who rebel against God.
We saw that in
verses 1-3.
And then we see
a final warning
in verses 10-11.
This is sort of
the final warning
that someone gives.
Hey, if you don't stop,
we're going to have
to take care of you.
We're going to send
the dogs out.
We're going to open fire.
Whatever analogy you want.
This is the final warning
to the kings
in verses 10-11.
Be warned.
Be wise.
Serve the Lord
with fear
and rejoice
with trembling.
We either perish
or we take refuge
in God.
We either perish
or we take refuge
in God.
We either rebel
against God
or we find
safety in Him.
If we rebel,
we will be destroyed.
If we take refuge
in Him,
we will be saved.
And this is something
that even as people
in the Old Testament
look forward to it,
we look forward
to it as well
because it's partially
fulfilled now
in Jesus' first coming
and will be fully fulfilled
in His second coming.
And so our hope
as Christians
is in Jesus' second coming
that He would come back
and be the King
that rules all the nations.
And so our final question,
our last question
that this psalm poses to us
is are we rebelling
or are we finding refuge?
If we're finding refuge,
that means that we have
faith in Christ.
And I've said
faith in Christ
many times.
I've never given you
a full definition
so I'm going to give you
that now.
Faith,
this comes from Charles Spurgeon,
has three components to it.
It is knowledge,
belief,
and trust.
Faith is knowledge,
belief,
and trust.
And so faith is,
first of all,
knowing what is true
about Jesus,
that He was a real man
in real space
in real time
who came
and He died.
And the reason He had to die
is because of our sins,
that God was pouring out
His wrath on the earth,
bringing full and final justice
to everyone
who rebels against Him.
But that for anyone
who has faith
and trust
and hope in Jesus,
Jesus' death
as a perfect man
pays the penalty
for our sins.
And so faith is,
first of all,
that knowledge,
what is true about Jesus.
Second of all,
it's actually belief.
Many people know
the facts about Jesus.
There are people
who are not Christians
who could have told you
what I just told you.
They would say,
Christians,
believe this.
And so faith is not just knowledge,
it's also belief.
It's believing that those things
are true.
Actually believing
that we are so sinful
that we have no hope
outside of Jesus.
Believing that He is the one
who can save us.
So knowledge and belief
and then trust.
Trust is knowing,
not just saying these things
are true and believing them,
but then living our lives
as if they are true.
We can say we believe something,
but if our lives
don't reflect it,
it shows everyone
that we don't actually believe it.
And so faith in Christ
is knowledge,
it's belief,
and it's trust.
It's knowing what's true
and then living out
of that truth.
If you ever want to talk more
about any of those things,
I'm happy to talk to anyone
after the service
to talk more about
faith in Christ
if that's something
you have questions about,
if that's something
you're confused about.
But that is what it means
to take refuge.
That's what's being talked about
in verse 12.
Blessed are all
who take refuge in Him.
And so there's those
who take refuge
and then there are those
who rebel.
We're told that those
who do not take refuge
will face God's full
and final justice
when His King returns.
When Jesus comes back
to the earth,
He is going to bring
God's justice on everyone
who does not have faith
in Christ.
Christ.
This is something
that's challenging
for many people
in this particular country
and this part of the world
to think of a God
of judgment.
And yet this is what
would be true
of any great king.
If someone tried
to attack Fort Carson
right now,
not with a riding lawnmower
but with something
that's actually powerful
enough to take down gates,
we would not complain
about them being destroyed
by Fort Carson.
We would not say,
how could a loving fort,
how would a loving fort,
how could they judge
and destroy
these people attacking them?
Right?
No.
That is what great kings do.
How much more
the great king?
How much more
the great king?
And so if we
have objections
and problems
with God's judgment,
it means two things.
First, we underestimate
how much,
how great our sin is.
We don't actually believe
verses one and two
that when we sin,
we are setting ourselves
against God,
that we're raging
against him
and plotting against him.
And second,
we're underestimating
what a great king
God is.
And so there's two options.
We either take refuge
and are saved
or we rebel
and we are destroyed.
If we take refuge
in God,
then when we look
at the kings,
we can laugh
with God.
When we take refuge
in God,
we can laugh
with God.
And so that's our hope
and our confidence
and our trust.
The final passage
that I didn't mention,
which alludes to Psalm 2,
is from our reading
from Revelation,
our New Testament reading
this morning,
which almost quotes
verses 8 and 9.
talks about him ruling
with a rod of iron
and dashing them
in pieces like a potter's vessel.
That this picture
of Revelation 19
is of Jesus' second coming.
That he is coming back,
not in his first coming
to bring salvation
through his death,
but in his second coming
to bring salvation
through his judgment.
That he's going to save
his world
from all the sin
that has destroyed him.
So I promised you
at the beginning,
this psalm was going
to make complex things simple.
Evil rulers
are complicated.
And the question
of what to do with them
and how to respond
to them is complicated
as well.
And God,
in this psalm,
makes it simple for us.
We either take refuge
and are saved,
or we rebel
and are destroyed.
And if we take refuge
in God,
then when we look
at the nations
and evil rulers,
we can laugh with God.
That's our hope
and our confidence
and our trust.
Please pray with me.
Dear Father in heaven,
we thank you
for your word
that guides us
and nurtures us
and nourishes us.
Ask for anyone
who does not have faith
in you,
that you would be at work
calling them to yourself,
that they would understand
the great salvation
that you offer
and also the great judgment
that is to come.
I ask that you'd give us
the encouragement
that comes
from knowing
that you are the great king
and you rule over everyone
and everything.
And we ask that you'd drive
this deep into our hearts
so that we'd have
the confidence
and the hope
that comes from knowing it.
And we ask all these things
in Jesus' name.
Amen.
I invite you to stand
for our closing.