Sermon Tone Analysis

King of Nations

Hymn: Majesty (74)

Hymn: All Hail the Power of Jesus Name (96)

Portraits of Christ in the Psalms

This semester we seek to see our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ in the Psalms.

NT authors referenced the Psalms a lot and applied their message to the person on Jesus.

Jesus in the Psalms?

Jesus in all of Scripture.

Thus (houtos) - in this manner

“it is written” - same root word (graphe) for “ the Scriptures - verse 45).

written in the “perfect tense” in Greek (Past completed action with ongoing effects)

Reword the verse literally.

“In this way Scripture written, the Christ must suffer and third day rise out of death.”

So the main theme of every OT passage of Scripture is about the death and resurrection of the Son of God.

You don’t read him into the text…the text points to His death and resurrection.

We just came through a season of advent where we were reminded of the longing for the appearing of the Messiah, the Anointed One (NT - the Christ).

The New Testament’s gloriously proclaims that Jesus is indeed the Christ, the long-expected “Anointed One” of whom these Scriptures speak.

Peter while preaching his first sermon quotes (Psalm 16 and 110) then declared to the crowds gathered in Jerusalem for Pentecost: “God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36).

Paul, also reasoned from the Scriptures (THE OT) with those in Athens that the Christ had to suffer and rise again, saying, “This Jesus, whom I preach to you, is the Christ” (Acts 17:2–3).

The book of Hebrews is woven together by psalms, showing us that Jesus is the “son of man” of Psalm 8 who was made “for a little while lower than the angels” through the incarnation but now has been crowned “with glory and honor” through his resurrection and ascension (Heb.

2:5–9).

Matthew’s gospel unveils the Psalms as key to Jesus’ own self-understanding.

Even Satan quotes Psalm 91 to him in the wilderness (Matt 4:6) and Jesus, upon the cross of agony, sifting his suffering through the sieve of Psalm 22: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt.

27:46).

In Matt 21:42 Jesus summarized his suffering and exaltation with the lines of Psalm 118:22: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the  cornerstone”

So we want to look at portraits of our Savior in the Psalms and the first one we will look at this new year is Psalm 2.

Psalm 2 although their is no superscription telling us that is was a Psalm of David, we know it is a Psalm of David because of what Luke records for us in Acts 4.

THE CONTEXT - Peter and John heal a crippled man who had for years been recognized as someone with a debilitating physical condition by everyone entering the temple in Jerusalem.

He used to sit at “the Beautiful Gate.”

The one that was right in front…a beggar…everyone would have seen this guy and known this guy.

Peter and John fix there gaze on him and heal him in the name of Jesus Christ.

So far so good.

Peter take the opportunity to preach about Jesus and call people to repentance…calling them to turn from their wickedness…chapter 3 then ends.

Chapter 4 begins with.

Peter and John say...It was Jesus…(the rulers see their boldness and realize they were ordinary men and so they had to silence them…you can’t speak in this name anymore.

We actually can’t do that we have to testify what we have seen and heard…then they threatened them but released them...

All these mighty rulers and lower case l Lord’s are coming against those who were preaching the wonderful healing power of the Upper Case LORD Jesus Christ…and they are gathered together to put a stop to this preaching.

All this to say…Luke told us that Psalm 2 was written by David!

So let’s sing a few songs and then begin to see Jesus in Psalm 2.

Hymn: Praise, My Soul the King of Heaven (3)

Hymn: Crown Him with Many Crowns (234)

kings against the KING (2:1-3)

This Psalm starts off with a massive question.

Why?

It is absurd.

It sets the initial tone for how crazy what is coming is.

(ILLUSTRATION: when you do something dumb or see someone you love do something dumb… this is what comes up in our minds?

Why did you think that?

Why did you do that?

Sometimes we will phrase it a little differently… “What were you thinking?”

(Which really isn’t a question…it more of a declaration… “Clearly you weren’t thinking.”

That is what is happening here I think with David.

Why?

Why what?

Why nations rage / people plot in vain / kings set themselves, rulers take counsel against GOD and the One God has Anointed.

- Doesn’t it make sense that this will end poorly?

Look at what the way they interpret the situation

PLOT = murmuring to oneself…muttering…discontent with the situations to where they want to act out…let’s “burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”

Let’s attack…thwart God and His plans for our lives.

Let’s get out from underneath God and His anointed ones oppressive thumb.

I don’t want to submit to His will and to His way…I will not submit to His will and to His ways.

This will not end well for this gathering of malcontents.

But before we are super critical of the nations and the peoples and the kings and the rulers, let’s make sure that we are not guilty of the same type of foolery.

Every time you disobey…you set yourself up against the Lord’s Anointed.

Every time you murmur or complain about what God in His sovereign purposes for you life have laid on your doorstep and that leads you to want to get out from underneath His oppressive thumb…we do the same.

I’m done with you God.

We think that there is freedom in not follow God or embracing His plans for our lives.

And that is natural for us because we aren’t all knowing and all powerful and we don’t know the beginning from the end.

All we have is what we can see in front of us and what is in front of us doesn’t seem good.

But that is not what Jesus did with His Fathers commands that left him lonely in a garden and on the cusp of being crucified…so what does He do in that moment?

He essentially walks by faith and not by sight in that moment.

Jesus said my yoke is easy and my burden light.

They yoke was meant to help carry the weight of the load you are bearing…they yoke of Jesus isn’t heavy…what makes it heavy is our resitence to it.

Greek Proverb that Paul quotes - it is hard to kick against the goads.

(Ox goad pointy stick that will encourage the ox to finish plowing the field.

If they kick against that pointy stick…it will hurt.

Application: what do you know that you should do, but haven’t done.

Start trusting, walk by faith, not by your sight and then do it.

like Jesus.

Hymn: All the Way My Savior Leads Me (460)

Hymn: Savior Like a Shepherd Lead Us (462)

Hymn: His Way (54)

Hymn: (SOLO) - God Moves in a Mysterious Way

No Laughing Matter He is the King of kings(2:4-6)

What is our God doing?

sitting!

nations were raging, people plotting, kings setting themselves against God, rulers taking counsel together…all very active stuff.

God is sitting…not only sitting, but laughing.

This is not laughter based off of hilarity.

This isn’t funny...

The next phrases describes what is meant by God laughing.

He holds them in derision.

What does that mean?

Divine mockery.

God is holding them in contempt.

Men are boldly shaking their fists against heaven, but such an attempted takeover is so bizarre, even insane, that the Lord scoffs at them, ridiculing and mocking their puny efforts.

This is the tower of babel played out.

This is Elijah encouraging the prophets of Baal to shout louder because maybe Baal is asleep or maybe he is “releaving” himself.

On the toilet.

People that live apart from God cannot actually do so because everything and every person is God’s.

People who try to get out from underneath the authority of God and His plans…will find themselves under His authoritative wrath.

It is a bad thing to be mocked by God…but it gets worse…then he will terrify them in his fury.