Better To Bend Than Be Broken
Notes
Transcript
Psalms 2
Introduction
Introduction
There’s a lot of lessons in this chapter, but the main one is this, and it’s the title of today’s message: “It’s better to bend than to be broken”
Submission to the Son of God is the only way to escape the horrible wrath of the Almighty God!
The purpose of this psalm is to convince us that it is foolish and futile to fight against Christ. For Christians, this is a message of hope and encouragement. The world is lined up against God, and yet Jesus will conquer all nations and peoples.
If you don’t know Jesus, God is appealing to you through this Psalm. Be wise. Be reasonable. You can’t fight God. You need to bend your knee to Jesus and honor him with joy today. True blessing doesn’t come from being free to live your own life; true happiness comes from following Jesus Christ.
Harry Ironside speaks of four voices in this psalm in its four sections: the voice of the world, the voice of the Father, the voice of the Son, and the voice of the Holy Spirit. Let’s listen to each of these voices in turn.
The World Shouts
The World Shouts
Why do the heathen rage,
And the people imagine a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
And the rulers take counsel together,
Against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying,
Let us break their bands asunder,
And cast away their cords from us.
You every sit and wonder what in the world is wrong with the world?! Well, David did too!
We see the world’s rebellion first. The psalmist is amazed that anyone would be foolish enough to fight God.
The foes here are made up of the world…nations, peoples, kings, and rulers.
This uprising is not limited to a specific country or continent. All the nations and peoples of the world are in this together. This uprising is also not limited to any social class. Both the people and their leaders—the upper class and the lower class—have set themselves against God.
This rebellion is worldwide because it is rooted in the sin nature we all inherited from Adam. If you hiked five days into the jungle, the people you meet are set against God. If you ride the crowded subways of New York City, the people pushing by you are set against God.
This should not surprise you child of God…Why?
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity;
And in sin did my mother conceive me.
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
The opposition of the world is fierce! This is seen by the word “rage” in verse 1. This is an outward agitation brought on by an inward feeling. It’s not a temporary rage, but it’s a deep-seated hate! This is the opposition that comes from the heart.
They “imagine a vain thing”…This means their minds are made up. They want nothing to do with the Son of God. They don’t know Him and they don’t want to get to know Him.
I’ve already mentioned this, but who are they fighting against? Look at verse 2…“Against the LORD, and against his anointed...”
This Psalm is the first of many “Messianic” Psalms…In verse 2, we find the word “anointed”. The Hebrew word “Messiah” and the Greek word “Christ” both mean “the Anointed one.” These all refer to the Son of God. And whenever we find a reference to the Son of God in the Old Testament, it’s a prophecy concerning His work and His person in the New Testament.
The world has not set itself against the idea of God in general. In fact, people around the world are usually religious. By nature, though, we are against the God who has revealed himself in Jesus Christ. Human beings across the globe are offended by the God of the Bible, and we rage against Him.
The Church would be tolerated by the world if she would only give up her doctrines and discipline.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
That’s only to those who have made Him the Lord of their life. To the spiritually blind, proud, and self-willed, the law of Christ is as verse 3 says “bands” and “cords” and must be cast off!
Moving into the next set of three verses, we see...
God Responds
God Responds
He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh:
The Lord shall have them in derision.
Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath,
And vex them in his sore displeasure.
Yet have I set my king
Upon my holy hill of Zion.
Where is God in all this? What is God going to do about this mutiny?
The first scene is on earth; this one is in Heaven. The first is a scene of while commotion; this is one of absolute calm. The revolters do not seen Him, but He sees them.
Watch this ya’ll...
God isn’t in Heaven wringing His hands…He’s not sitting there with a phone in His hands with His generals phone number up, just waiting for a moment to call in reinforcements…He’s not sitting there on the edge of His seat waiting to go hurry off into a bunker...
What’s He doing? God is laughing!
This is the only place in the Bible where it says that God laughs.
When a creature shakes his fist at the Creator, it’s so ridiculous that laughter is the only response.
God laughs because this uprising doesn’t threaten him in the least. The nations rage, but God doesn’t have to rage. He doesn’t have to set himself like the kings of the earth do. He doesn’t take counsel with anyone. He doesn’t need to plot. In fact, God doesn’t bother to stand up; He “...sitteth in the heavens...”
Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket,
And are counted as the small dust of the balance:
Behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.
God’s laughter humiliates his enemies. He “has them in derision.” God is not laughing because the world’s rebellion is some kind of silly joke. God takes sin seriously. In our disobedience we spit on his glory. We drag his name through the mud, we ruin his world, we harm men and women who bear his image, and we war against his Son. Part of God’s triumph is holding his enemies up to public disgrace. He did this supremely through Jesus’ death. God’s mocking laughter is part of his judgment on sinners.
There is a swift transition here from laughter to anger. God has a way of showing His displeasure!
The great “yet” in verse 6 is flung across the path of the revolters as a warning which will explode in their face and blow them and their well-lade plans to “kingdom come”!
God has established his King with his word, the same powerful word that spoke creation into being.
All the power in the world will not stop God’s word.
Pharaoh tried to destroy the Israelites, but he ended up caring for Moses and educating him in his own palace.
Haman plotted to destroy the Jews, but he was hung on the gallows he built for another.
The leaders of Israel put Jesus to death and thought they had destroyed him. Instead God used the cross to triumph over sin and save his people.
Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown in jail; through their suffering, the jailer was saved.
God’s Word still stands today. Jesus is still God’s King by the strength of an unbreakable Word.
Christ Proclaims
Christ Proclaims
The anointed king himself gives the second part of the declaration in 2:7-9. He tells us what God in heaven has said to him:
I will declare the decree:
The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son;
This day have I begotten thee.
Now of course Jesus was eternally the Son of God, from everlasting to everlasting; He was the incarnate Son of God when He came down to that Bethlehem stable to be born as a Man among men; He was the manifest Son of God when He came back from the dead in invincible power; He is the glorious Son of God, as God’s own chosen King. The Lord has a word to say about His Sonship. All the atheists and cultists in the world are not going to change the fact that Jesus is God’s unique Son.
In Matthew 4, during the wilderness temptation, Satan said to Jesus, “Ask those kingdoms of me. I will give them to you—at a price.” Jesus adamantly refused to ask Satan to give them to Him, but He does ask them of His Father. And God will give them to Him in due time.
This proclaims His destiny...
Ask of me,
And I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance,
And the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
God has promised to give Him the farthest corners of the world as His inheritance.
His destiny is to rule the planet!
Then, there’s a proclamation of His authority next:
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron;
Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.
You know why I take preaching so seriously, and why you shouldn’t dare sit back and sleep and clip fingernails and such while the man of God is preaching? Because when I’m preaching, I’m fulfilling the Son’s proclamation from Psalm 2…Christ extends His rule throughout this world by extending His Word throughout the world, and He uses people like you and I to do it! It’s an honor and privilege and I don’t want to disrespect my King!
The Spirit Invites
The Spirit Invites
Be wise now therefore, O ye kings:
Be instructed, ye judges of the earth.
This appeal is God’s mercy and patience as he holds out his hands to a rebellious world. The work of the Holy Spirit is to lift up Christ and draw us to him, which is what these final verses are doing. After the thunder of the iron rod and crashing pottery in verse 9, Ironside calls this “a very gentle, a very loving, a very tender voice.”
This tender voice calls for us to be sensible, to be wise. He invites you to examine yourself and to consider God’s decree. The words “Now therefore” (v. 10) mean that this is not a knee-jerk, emotional response. We need to make a logical conclusion from what we have just read. We need to come to our senses. God’s Spirit is patiently reasoning with us.
Serve the Lord with fear,
And rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son, lest he be angry,
And ye perish from the way,
When his wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.
Conclusion
Conclusion
“Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.”
Our only hope is to embrace Jesus Christ. God has set him on the throne to deal decisively with this world’s rebellion. There is no refuge from him. Our only refuge is in him.
The Psalm ends on a high note. An earnest invitation is extended! And blessing awaits those who respond to it! It’s always wise to be willing to be instructed, especially when this instruction might lead to the salvation of the soul!
It’s better to bend than be broken. Bow to Jesus today!