Royal Psalms Part 1

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Call to Worship

Say: Let us now begin to worship the Father the Son, the Holy Spirit, Our Call to worship Comes to us from

Isaiah 33:17 ESV

17 Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty; they will see a land that stretches afar.

Introduction

The last of the Roman presicutions of Christians was carried out by Diocletian. He had ordered

The Age of the Early Church Fathers (2000 Years of Christ’s Power, vol. 1) Section 3: The Final Struggle: From Diocletian to Constantine

First edict: All church buildings were to be destroyed, all Bibles burnt, and all Christian worship forbidden.

Second edict: All clergy were to be arrested and imprisoned.

Third edict: All clergy were to offer sacrifice to the gods or be tortured.

Fourth edict: All citizens throughout the Empire were to sacrifice to the gods and be executed if they refused.

It went to the point that

A medal was struck by Diocletian, which still remains, bearing the inscription, "The name of Christians being extinguished." And in Spain, two monumental pillars were raised, on which were written:—I. "Diocletian Jovian Maximian Herculeus Caesares Augusti, for having extended the Roman Empire in the east and the west, and for having extinguished the name of Christians, who brought the Republic to ruin." II. "Diocletian Jovian Maximian Herculeus Caesares Augusti, for having adopted Galerius in the east, for having everywhere abolished the superstition of Christ, for having extended the worship of the gods."

As a modern writer has elegantly observed: "We have here a monument raised by Paganism, over the grave of its vanquished foe. But in this 'the people imagined a vain thing;' so far from being deceased, Christianity was on the eve of its final and permanent triumph, and the stone guarded a sepulchre empty as the urn which Electra washed with her tears. Neither in Spain, nor elsewhere, can be pointed out the burial place of Christianity; it is not, for the living have no tomb.'"

Within 3 years of this event. Christianity would be declared legal by Constantine in the territories he controlled, and then the entire of the roman Empire and to various extents all nations that are part of the West today.

The nations continue to plio in vain and yet we will see what God will do with them. Sin makes men do insane things and rules over nations unchecked. But God is not mocked.

Text

Psalm 2 ESV

1 Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, 3 “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” 4 He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. 5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, 6 “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” 7 I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” 10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. 11 Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 12 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.

Background Information

DIVISION. This Psalm will be best understood if it be viewed as a four-fold picture.

(In verses 1, 2, 3) the Nations are raging;

(4 to 6) the Lord in heaven derides them;

(7 to 9) the Son proclaims the decree;

and (from 10 to end) advice is given to the kings to yield obedience to the Lord's anointed.

This division is not only suggested by the sense, but is warranted by the poetic form of the Psalm, which naturally falls into four stanzas of three verses each.

This Psalm is Psalm 1 demonstrated.

Verse 1-3

Verse 1

Psalm 2:1 ESV

1 Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?

So while writing this section I kept America in my mind. And so this sermon is dedicated to our President.

Part of being a Christian is being a patriot, a lover of you nation and people. An American Christian has a duty to love his country and to love his countrymen. The same is true of any Christian citizen of any country.

You may remember your ten Commandments Ex 20:12

Exodus 20:12 ESV

12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

This is the one Commandment I didn’t preach on last year. You hear the wording. The Bible refers to the kings and magistrates as fathers Isa. 49:23

And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, (KJV)

And So I would say to the President if he was here That he is as Spurgeon’s most quoted Puritan Thomas Watson said

He is the father of his country; he is to be an encourager of virtue, a punisher of vice, a father to the widow and orphan; such a father was Job, ch. 29:16., "I was a father to the poor; and the cause which I knew not, I searched out." And, as magistrates are fathers, so especially the king who is the head of magistrates, is a political father; he is placed as the sun among the lesser stars.

A President, governor, mayor is to do these things. This is why we need Christian leaders the ancients would have said Christian Princes because only Jesus can be a king.

So To our President to any man who seeks job of ruler do you cause your nation to rage? Do you cause the people to plot in vain?

Are you creating the situation of Eph 6:4

Ephesians 6:4 ESV

4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Children who are provoked can’t honor, they won’t.

Application

The household is the seminary of the church and the nation. Mr. President are you creating a place in which households are enriched, that people can feel safe in? Are people growing more deeply in their faith? Are children experiencing blessings greater then what you had?

To the dads and moms in the room. You can answer these problems. Do your actions lead to rage in your homes? Do you by your actions and words plot against the Lord?

You may say, I’m not married, I have no children, but these questions apply to our relationships and the states of our souls.

When you undermine virtue you undermine the Lord. When you forsaking doing right you plot against the Lord.

When you fail to father in your homes men it says in the word Judges 17:6

Judges 17:6 ESV

6 In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

to the Ladies in your homes do you encourage your husbands, your children? Or is your life doing what is right in your own eyes?

America must stop doing what is right in her own eyes, we must repent. Mr. President the word says this is the commandment with a promise to live long in the land, can you not see we are loosing it as we speak?

Again to the men and women hearing me, have you broken the 5th commandment? Are you honoring in a way that keeps the promise? Your doing so shows your faith, but also serves your loved ones.

Verse 2

This isn’t temporary madness or atheism, but intentional sinful actions Psalm 2:2

Psalm 2:2 ESV

2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,

The best way for me to understand this text is Romans 1:18-32

Romans 1:18–32 ESV

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. 28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

This scares me. This is the news, this is the TV shows and movies. The kings of Earth do Romans 1:32

Romans 1:32 ESV

32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

Our leaders do this daily. I looked at President’s Biden and our governments social media accounts and it was filled with support for things that God does not support. God can’t bless gay mirage, he can’t bless the evils he promotes. We see in our daily lives people promoting that which is sinful. I can remember watching movies and TV when I was a kid. Dad was painted as a fool and mom as a do no wrong.

We can see in commercials that they’re all saying the same thing.

And why do they do so? Psalm 2:2

Psalm 2:2 (ESV)

2 against the Lord and against his Anointed,

They do this it says to be against the Lord’s anointed. If our leaders are doing this, this means that is America’s official position.

We in our land recently they passed an act in congress that would make it possibly illegal to say that the Jews killed Jesus, which is what the bible teaches, so did the Romans, and because that could be seen as anti-Semitic. People are plotting to make basic teaching of the scripture an actionable offence! They want to criminalize our faith!

This is the sin of the leaders. They see the power of government and think themselves gods.

In Canada, their Prime minister accused the Christian Church of hosting schools that children of various tribal backgrounds died at. Over 80 churches were burned down in retaliation. And it was a lie, not a single ounce of proof, but the Anti-Christian leader up their stirred hatters of God to attack God’s people.

The Trans shooter in this country.

It is without saying the official stance of the USA to be against the faith.

Application

Are you giving permission to those who you love to sin? Are you encouraging men and women to sin? The leaders of a culture lead their people into destruction. We see this time and again in the books of 1+2 Kings and the people get mixed in! In your household are you conspiring to look the other way?

I was speaking with an individual this week and the conversation came to the point. Get the hard conversations done. This is an underrated life hack. When your doctor sees cancer he doesn’t beat around the bush. Are you not contending for the faith for your home? Jesus does this with the woman at the well in John 5 and he deals with her and loves her and shows her the waters of eternal life. He does this again in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 with the churches what they have wrong.

We must not conspire against the Lord.

To those of you who run companies our are working. Does it bring honor to the lord or do you look the other way, work around the issue?

In parenting this looks like teaching your children to value truth and clarity. You may get into trouble for doing something wrong, but if your honest you’ll get in less trouble then if you lie as well. The sin of covering up.

Verse 3

This is all done to do as Psalm 2:3

Psalm 2:3 ESV

3 “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”

"Let us break their bands asunder." "Let us be free to commit all manner of abominations. Let us be our own gods. Let us rid ourselves of all restraint."

This false promise has lead to nothing but destruction.

Oh do you see this. Ask yourself an honest question, does America promote Christ-likeness? Does our church? Does your family? Does your work? If not why?

When you see this verse the idea that David is saying here is that they see the wisdom of God as shackles and chains. And so the burst, or rent asunder, or breaking the percived chains is all they have.

Let me give you an example From Linda Gordon a Feminist and Marxist who said this:

"The nuclear family must be destroyed, and people must find better ways of living together.... Whatever its ultimate meaning, the break-up of families now is an objectively revolutionary process.... No woman should have to deny herself any opportunities because of her special responsibilities to her children... Families will be finally destroyed only when a revolutionary social and economic organization permits people's needs for love and security to be met in ways that do not impose divisions of labor, or any external roles, at all." ~ Linda Gordon

Mrs. Gordon would go on to work the Clinton administration. This breaking of what they see as the chains on us has had untold repercussions.

The economy today makes it near impossible to afford anything. The pressure to fit in or social shame will hit you fast is everywhere. All of it is against Christ.

God created the family unit in the garden. He is a father, He has a son. His son made us sons and daughters of God. By destroying this basic unit and replacing us as individuals we have been disconnected from each other and from our heritage as a Christian nation.

Application:

I want to remind you of something Jesus said Matt. 11:30

Matthew 11:30 ESV

30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Being a Christian is normal. It is the way God has made men and women to be.

He doesn’t let you labor with this faith alone John 14:16

John 14:16 ESV

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,

Or comforter. His ways are better and easier.

Sin will make you think that, it is easier to sin. It is deceptive, it makes you think you’re chained. So you must resist the charm of those who say otherwise.

The way to save your family, from the mad kings of our age is to follow the king of kings more closely. Not an inch of light should be seen between you and your Lord. That is our only hope.

Walk with the lord faithfully

When men sin they strive to get others to do so as well. So for Children you must know what God says 1 Cor. 15:33

1 Corinthians 15:33 ESV

33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”

Psalm 106:35 ESV

35 but they mixed with the nations and learned to do as they did.

Proverbs 13:20 ESV

20 Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.

You must be careful with who your friends with, they may be trying to rip what you believe apart!

Kiss ye the son

(Give the gospel

Psalm 2:12 ESV

12 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.

Benediction

Say: As we close our service of worship dear brother and sister please stand for our benediction and receive by faith this blessing from God

2 Peter 1:2 ESV

2 May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.