[0:00] Well, you could have your Bibles open to Psalm 2. I confess I'm the one that used the King James.
[0:10] I blamed it on Handel's Messiah. I mean, how can you break with, let us break their bands asunder as you hear the chorus breaking out.
[0:27] The Bible gives us a worldview. A set of truths from which to understand our world. It's God's interpretation of what is really going on in our world.
[0:39] We have all the news reporting it, and then we have God telling us what's going on. Man has his ideas, he writes his history books, but the Bible alone infallibly defines reality.
[0:55] It takes us behind the scenes and tells us the way it really is. And one of the most fundamental truths about this world is that God rules it.
[1:06] The Lord God omnipotent reigns. And he reigns because in the beginning he created it for his own pleasure. It belongs to him.
[1:17] As the maker, he has the rights, the creator rights, the potter rights to decide what is done in his world. He's the absolute monarch.
[1:28] He's the highest authority. He's the king of the one's kinging. The Lord of the one's lording. He's the sovereign ruler. And as king, he rules by his laws, just as every other king.
[1:43] Isaiah 33, 22. The Lord is our judge. The Lord is our lawgiver. The Lord is our king. It is he who will save us. And so as king, he has set down moral laws to be obeyed.
[1:56] And he holds men accountable for their actions. He rewards those who are obedient, and he punishes those who disobey. He judges with perfect justice. He's the highest court.
[2:08] There is no higher court of appeal to his judgments. And he's not just the king of one nation. You know, in the Old Testament, each nation had their own God.
[2:21] But that's not the God of Israel. Yes, he is the God of that nation, Israel, the old covenant people of God. But he's the God of the universe. He's the God of all nations.
[2:33] The king of all nations. Psalm 103, 19. The Lord has established his throne on high. His kingdom rules over all.
[2:44] All. So, according to God, that's just the way it is. But men don't like the way it is. With God reigning over them. And that's where Psalm 2 then comes in.
[2:57] And explains reality for us. And here we're going to see three points. The world rebelling. Heaven responding. And then concluding counsel given.
[3:09] So first, the world rebelling. This is verses 1 to 3. If you'd understand what's going on in the world today, then you must see it as a world in rebellion against the government of God.
[3:22] Against his Messiah King. That's what the anointed one is. It is the Messiah. The Christ. As the New Testament translates it.
[3:33] And so Psalm 2 is about the reign of the Lord and his King. Christ. And it begins with a question why. And it's a question. Not seeking some answer as if the psalmist doesn't know.
[3:48] It's rather a question of astonishment. Why would anyone do something so futile as to rebel against the King of Kings?
[4:02] Why do the nations rage? And the people imagine a vain thing. As if they could topple God from his throne. As if they could reach him with their arrows and darts.
[4:15] It's like kicking against a granite mountain. Standing in their way. They don't like it. They want it out of the way. And so they kick it. Only in their vain imagination can they move it.
[4:27] It's a futile effort. But there they are. Not just one or two. But the nations and their rulers and kings and judges and peoples. It's something they're doing together.
[4:38] It's a universal conspiracy. The kings of the earth, verse 2, set themselves. The rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed.
[4:52] And notice their rebellious activity. They're conspiring. They're plotting. They're scheming. They're taking their stand. They're mounting an offensive. And it's all against the Lord and his anointed king.
[5:06] His mediatorial king. To whom he's given all authority and power in heaven and on earth to reign. And the world is dead set against that king and his God.
[5:21] So what's the rub? What's the issue? What's the irritating cause of all their raging and plotting? Just listen to what they're saying and they'll tell you.
[5:31] Verse 3. Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us. The focus of their hatred is upon his ruling over them.
[5:44] His authority. And more specifically, they hate his laws. They hate his commandments by which he exerts his authority over them. One of the mottos of the French Revolution was no God, no king.
[5:59] That's what they wanted. Nobody telling them what to do. They were out to topple God from his throne. And notice that his laws are viewed as shackles, as bonds, as bands, fetters, chains.
[6:16] Something that's holding them in cruel bondage. They're not going to be able to do it. They're not going to be able to do it. They're not going to be able to do it. They're not going to be able to do it. Which is S-I-N.
[6:27] Sin. That's what they love. And so they see his rule as burdensome, as oppressive, as impinging upon their freedom.
[6:39] Something to be broken off and thrown away. To get out from under the rule of God and his Christ. And notice then that the nations are aware of God's laws. Whether they've ever seen one of these.
[6:53] Whether they've ever had a missionary come to their shores. The nations are aware of God's laws. Isn't that what Paul says in Romans 2 and verses 14 and 15?
[7:04] That even the Gentiles who did not have the law revealed in Scripture, yet they are a law to themselves because they do by nature the things required in the law.
[7:15] And so they show that they have the work of the law written in their hearts. Their conscience bearing witness. Weighing in with their thoughts. At one time accusing. Another time excusing.
[7:28] Though they've never seen a Bible. God's laws are registered upon their conscience. And they don't like that law. They wish to be free from it.
[7:38] It cramps their style. And that's exactly what the rest of Scripture tells us. We all like sheep have gone astray. We've turned each one to his own way.
[7:51] What have we said of God and his rule over us? Not for me. My way. Not yours. I'm my own God.
[8:01] My own king. I set the rules for myself. I didn't choose their religion. Get off my back. God, leave me alone. And so, make no mistake.
[8:12] It is this. It's the law of God. The rule of God in his commandments. That drives their revolt against the Lord God and his king. It's this that makes men enemies in their minds against King Jesus.
[8:26] He comes with an agenda. His commandments are holy and righteous and good. Romans 7, verse 12. They're not burdensome to the regenerate heart.
[8:39] 1 John 5, 3. But for the unregenerate. Romans 8, 7 says that the natural mind is hostility against God. It's enmity against God. And how does that enmity show itself?
[8:51] Not necessarily with a fist toward heaven, but they will not submit themselves to God's law. That's how they show their enmity. They may be very polite, upstanding people in society.
[9:06] But when God's law impinges upon what they want, no thank you. No thank you. I'll set the standards for myself. And so they will not submit to God's law, nor can they do so, Paul says.
[9:23] Romans 8, 7. So unregenerate man still responds today as Pharaoh of old. You remember when God sent Moses to him to say, let my people go. What did Pharaoh say? Who is the Lord that I should obey him?
[9:38] He's not my God. I am my God. Israel, you've got yours. Fine for you. But who is he that I should obey him? I do not recognize his authority in my life.
[9:49] I bow to no one else. Well, the Lord introduced himself to Pharaoh by ten plagues, didn't he? And he came to know who this king was, that he rules over creation.
[10:02] He rules over every ruler. And he demands that his way be kept. So when you read or watch the news, notice it's the law of God that men hate and want gone, even out of our schools.
[10:16] Isn't it interesting that Louisiana has now passed a law that the Ten Commandments must be in every classroom in their school system? And it was an interesting statement that if we're wanting to teach our young people to obey authorities, we need to start with the supreme authority.
[10:35] And I think that's something that Exodus chapter 20, the summary of the moral law and the Ten commandments is something that both Jews and Christians agree upon, and even Muslims would be trying to synthesize something of the Old and the New Testament.
[10:56] So anyway, of course the UCL, what is it? Not UCLA. It's a... There we go. You've got to get those in order, don't you?
[11:08] They are suing. They don't want God's law in our nation. And whatever you believe on separation of church and state and what the Constitution says, they're stating that this was a part of our nation's founding.
[11:27] It's emblazoned on our statutes and on our memorials. And if you visit Washington, D.C., if you go into the Supreme Court, it's carved into the woodwork of the Ten Commandments, Moses with the Ten...
[11:40] But they want it gone, effaced. So it's this common hatred for God and His laws that brings people together who otherwise were enemies. And Acts 4, 25 to 28, we see Psalm 2 is quoted in that prayer when the apostles were threatened and told not to preach in Jesus' name anymore.
[12:04] And they went back to the church and the church holds a prayer meeting and they raised their voices together in prayer to God.
[12:15] Sovereign Lord, they said. You see, they're recognizing who's the sovereign Lord over all. You made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them. Why do they say that? Because the one that makes them rules them.
[12:26] And you spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David. Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against His anointed one.
[12:42] Indeed, Herod... This is the New Testament's application of Psalm 2. Indeed, Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed.
[12:58] They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. So even in their rebellion, they're doing what God before had decided would happen because it would be by the crucifixion of the Son of God that He would save a multitude that no man can number from all the nations of the earth.
[13:18] But here we see strange bedfellows working together. Herod and Pilate, they were enemies, but that day they became friends. On what basis? Their common hostility towards the Lord's anointed.
[13:33] Well, they didn't want to have to deal with Him and His words anymore. Pilate said, what shall I do with your king?
[13:45] And the Jews respond, crucify Him. What? What? Shall I crucify your king? Remember their response? We have no king but Caesar. Suddenly, these rebellious Jews become the most honorable, law-abiding citizens in their own eyes.
[14:01] We have no king but Caesar. Away with Him. And so they got Him out of their life with a hammer, nails, and cross. And Psalm 2 is telling us that is what is behind the push to define the murder of babies in the womb as a mother's choice or health care.
[14:22] That's what's behind the relativism of the day. It's behind the laws of so many laws and executive orders and legal judgments. You see it in our so-called higher education, which is really lower education.
[14:36] Behind the atheistic naturalism of the day. Anti-supernaturalism. Everything can be explained by natural causes. Men are trying to get rid of Jesus as king.
[14:53] Well, it's behind every false religion. The revolution then is alive and well.
[15:04] So that's the first point, verses 1 to 3. The world in rebellion. What's the response of heaven to this world's rebellion? That's the next section, verses 4 to 9.
[15:16] Heaven's response to the world in rebellion. Well, in short, God is not panicking and neither should we. The scene changes from the noisy rebellion of man down here on earth to the quiet sovereignty of the throne room in heaven where God Almighty and His omnipotent Son, the throne room reign.
[15:39] And there's peace and quiet there. The whole world's up in arms, rebelling, trying to cast off His authority. And God's not threatened in the least. He's not weeping.
[15:51] He's not nervously wringing His hands. He's not saying, what shall we do? We need to scurry up with another plan. He's rather laughing, the Bible says. And it's not a ha-ha funny laugh.
[16:04] No, it's the laughter of unthreatened sovereignty and power. He that sits in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision.
[16:17] That's the first thing we hear from heaven's throne room. It's laughter. The folly of it. To think they could overthrow God and His anointed King.
[16:35] Well, the laughter of God is not a good sign for rebellious man, is it? His response to this puny man shaking his fist at God and thumbing his nose to God's authority. It's to recognize His childish folly.
[16:52] Again, why? Why would they kick against a granite mountain? Why would they kick against a king that cannot be dethroned? It's folly. It's foolishness.
[17:04] You might as well try to catch the wind or snuff out the sun as to escape the rule of heaven's king. And then God's laughter turns into words, and He speaks. Verse 5.
[17:15] Then shall He speak to them in His wrath and vex them in His sore displeasure. He's unthreatened by man's rebellion, but He is anything but apathetic.
[17:26] He doesn't sit by and say, so what? This is His world. He created it to glorify Him. And a usurper has come and has set up His kingdom.
[17:37] And now man himself is sided with the devil. And it stirs His anger and wrath, which He expresses in these terrifying words that vex them.
[17:48] It worries them to death. It distresses them. And what is it that He says? He says, yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
[17:58] For all their attempts to dethrone Him, to kick Him off, to not have Him rule over them, I have installed my king. I've enthroned him. We're presently engaged in a process of selecting our next president.
[18:12] From now to November, two people will be seeking your vote. Jesus is not soliciting votes. He's not saying, please make me the sovereign king of the universe.
[18:25] Please vote for me. No, God didn't pull humanity on this matter. He didn't even ask us who we wanted to reign over us. He just said, I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
[18:41] It was a sovereign unilateral decision. He's Lord and King over you, whether you acknowledge Him or not. What you do with Him does not affect the fact that He's Lord and King.
[18:53] And He's reigning. He's fulfilling His purposes in the world. There's this wonderful parable as Jesus comes down to the last week of His life.
[19:03] In Luke chapter 19, a parable about the Jews' rejection of their king. And He says, A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king, and then to return.
[19:16] But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him saying, We will not have this man to rule over us. In other words, we don't want him to be our king.
[19:27] We don't vote for him. The next verse says, He was made king, however. You see, it doesn't matter what men say, whether they want him king or not, whether they want to break his bands of authority.
[19:41] He was made king, however. I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. You see, it's not so easy to get rid of King Jesus as the first century Jerusalem Jews found.
[19:55] When they plotted against Jesus with hammer, nails, and a cross, God responded by raising him from the dead and exalting him where? To the highest throne, his throne, where he now reigns, over the throne that rules the universe.
[20:11] You tried to discard him. I made him the capstone. Sit at my right hand, he says to his son, till I make all your enemies a footstool for your feet.
[20:27] I have set my king. Where's he set him? On my holy hill of Zion. Now, Zion was the place where the Davidic kings reigned there in Jerusalem.
[20:39] But there's another Zion, isn't there? There's a Zion above. And that is the new covenant center of worship. We've not come to Mount Sinai.
[20:51] Hebrews chapter 12. No. Verse 22 to 24. We have come to Mount Zion. Not someplace over in Palestine. We've come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God.
[21:06] And that's the same city that Revelation 21 sees coming down out of heaven in the return of Christ. There in heaven, Christ is seated upon the throne in Mount Zion above.
[21:25] And so Peter stands on the day of Pentecost and he announces to these Jews that murdered Jesus, their king. Let all Israel be assured of this. God has made this Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ, King and Messiah.
[21:42] And they were terrified. We killed. The one they killed was alive and reigning over them, waiting to judge them at the last day. They're cut to the heart and said, what shall we do?
[21:56] Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. The 3,000 did just that. The rest continued in their rebellion against him.
[22:10] So men can reject him, ignore him, but they cannot dethrone him. He's still king and will meet you in the day of judgment. He's the inescapable Christ. And on that day, the ACLU lawyers will themselves be brought before the trial.
[22:25] And the laws that will judge them in that day are the laws that were written on the Ten Commandments, the summary of God's moral law that was engraved upon their conscience.
[22:36] You shall not murder. Don't tell me you don't know that that's wrong. What happens when someone murders your son?
[22:48] You rise up. Injustice. Injustice. What happens when someone commits adultery with your wife? Injustice. Injustice. When someone lies about you, bears false witness against you, steals your property.
[23:00] Oh, there's this cry. Injustice. Oh, you see, you who condemn another, you yourselves commit the same thing and thereby show that you have the law written in your heart and you do by nature the things that the law requires.
[23:18] Well, that was God the Father's response in heaven to the rebellion. A laugh and a reminder that I have set my son upon my holy hill as I can't undo it.
[23:34] He's set there. Next, we have the response of heaven from the son, his anointed king upon the heavenly throne, verses 7 to 9. This is King Jesus telling his father what God the Father had said to him when he exalted him to his throne after the resurrection 40 days later.
[24:00] What was it that the father said to his son as he seated him there? Well, you can read Psalm 110 and it tells us some of the things, but here the son says in verse 7, I will declare the decree.
[24:11] The Lord, Yahweh, my father, has said unto me, you are my son. This day have I begotten thee. Now, if we would understand this, we need to go back to what we studied.
[24:25] I don't know how long it's been. In 2 Samuel chapter 7, that covenant that God entered into with David, that he would give to him a whole house of kings, a dynasty of kings, and they would sit upon that throne, and it would be a kingdom that would last forever.
[24:48] And in that covenant with David, the Lord says that he will take the king of Israel, he will take these Davidic kings as his son. The relationship between the king of Israel and God Almighty will be father to son.
[25:04] And now Jesus is saying to his son as he seats him on the throne, you are my son. You are my reigning king. You are the king of David. The ultimate king whose kingdom will never end.
[25:18] And so he's recounting what the father said to him. Just as God said of David's heir, I will be his father and he will be my son.
[25:32] The book of Hebrews gives us the New Testament commentary of this. Chapter 1, verses 3 to 8. It says, After he, this anointed one, had provided purification for sin, he sat down.
[25:45] Where? Well, at the right hand of the majesty in heaven. And he's far superior than the angels, for to which of the angels did God ever say, you are my son, today I have become your father.
[25:59] You see, today I've entered into this relationship with myself and the Davidic kings, father to son. Well, he fulfills it in more than that way, doesn't he? His essential personhood as the second member of the Trinity, there's the father and there's the son.
[26:15] And now as the fulfillment of the Davidic king, he's the son of the father, fulfilling all those promises that had been made about the forever kingdom that he would have.
[26:30] And so the son then, in verse 8, our memory verse for this week, is still quoting the father and what he said to him on that day when he crowned him king in heaven in Mount Zion. He says, Ask of me, son, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession.
[26:48] Remember, Jesus was obedient to the father even unto death, the death of the cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him. He has lifted him to the highest place, which is the throne of God.
[27:04] And he said to his son, Ask of me now and I'll give you the nations for your inheritance. This is the reward of his suffering. A people from all the nations of the world.
[27:18] You see, this is the word, the word that the father spoke to the son that has inspired missions all the way through the 2,000 years of the Christian church. This is the word spoken in heaven that stands behind that great commission that Jesus gave to us before he ascended when he said, Go into all the nations and make disciples.
[27:39] Why? Because my father has promised that he would give me the nations and the uttermost parts of the earth as my possession, as a reward for my suffering.
[27:53] Believers, we are the love gift of the father to his son for his sufferings. We are the nations. We are a part of that worldwide gift to the son.
[28:07] Why should I gain from his reward? I cannot give an answer. But this I know with all my heart, his wounds have paid my ransom.
[28:19] But you see, we are his reward, the father's reward to his son. And I trust that that will do the same in our hearts, inspiring us to mission.
[28:30] So we go into this nation and every other nation with the gospel, with our prayers, our gifts, our young men and women because the father has promised the son the nations as his inheritance.
[28:46] And then he says, once more, he's still quoting what the father said to him. The father said, okay, son, today I've begotten you. You are now my son, my king's son. And ask of me and I'll give you the nations.
[28:59] And now he says to his son, you will break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. These are the ones that don't come and bow to the son as the gospel chariot goes forth calling out the elect from all the nations, those who resist the gospel, those who will not have this king to rule over them.
[29:21] Son, you will dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel. You will rule them with a rod of iron. His rebels will find his rule to be a hard rule.
[29:34] Oh, those who surrender find his yoke is easy and his burden is light. But those who resist him will find him to have a rod of iron. You cannot escape him.
[29:50] He'll either be your best friend or your worst enemy is what he's saying. No wonder they're terrified. No wonder they're vexed with his words.
[30:00] No wonder they're panicking over heaven's response to the world's rebellion. They wanted him gone and they can't escape his rule.
[30:15] Then we have concluding counsels at verses 10 to 12. In light of all of the above, that Christ is king and Lord over you and enforces his laws and is coming in judgment.
[30:27] These are realities that demand an immediate response of every single one of us. Every one from the fall of Adam till the return of Christ. And here we have the counsel of heaven for rebellious man.
[30:43] This was the counsel of heaven for me. It was the counsel of heaven for you in light of this fact that Jesus has came and you've rebelled against him, going your own way. Be wise now, therefore, O you kings.
[30:56] Be instructed, you judges of the earth. So the kings stand as the representatives of the people of the earth. And often it's those who are in high positions that have a hard time being instructed.
[31:10] They know it all. Here's the counsel. You better listen. You better be instructed. You better be wise in your response.
[31:20] Consider yourself warned. Consider yourself instructed. Oh, it's a mercy to be warned ahead of time of coming judgment. God could have just surprised the world in rebellion, came and destroyed them all.
[31:37] But no, he warns us. There's mercy in the heart of God behind his warnings. It's the policeman saying, stop or I'll shoot. Why doesn't he just shoot him if he's a bad guy?
[31:49] Because he wants him to repent. He wants him to turn and to come back. And that's what God is saying. Be wise now, therefore. In light of what I've said, be wise.
[32:01] Be instructed. All you who have not yet surrendered to this king. So, if you know you can't defeat a foe, it's wise to surrender to them, isn't it?
[32:19] I think there's word of that in the scriptures. I think that was behind Robert E. Lee's reason for surrendering. He realized there's no hope of victory.
[32:31] And I don't want to see more of my men lose their lives. He surrendered. Be wise now, therefore. If you can't win this fight, bow to this king and let him rule over you.
[32:49] This is one you can't win. So, do yourself a favor and repent and give it up. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Verse 11.
[33:00] Bow. Bow in service to him. You've been serving yourself. Repent of that way and come and serve this king. Do it with reverence.
[33:11] Rejoice. Rejoice with trembling. There's joy in serving Jesus. In wonder, lost with trembling joy, I take the pardon of our God.
[33:22] Pardon for crimes of deepest dye. Pardon bought with Jesus' blood. Who is a pardoning God like thee? And who has grace so rich and free? Trembling joy.
[33:33] Joy unspeakable. But trembling to think I was a bran snatched from the fire. Bless the Lord. One more word. Verse 12.
[33:44] Kiss the son. Who's the son? It's David's anointed. The father's son. And to kiss him is an act of submission. You're putting yourself under his rule.
[33:58] Prostrating yourself in worship of him. Humbly owning his right to rule over you. Kiss the son. And why? Why lovingly submit to him?
[34:11] Kiss him? Lest he be angry and you perish in the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. You see with all this mercy coming he doesn't want you to forget the alternative.
[34:26] It's a fight you can't win and if you don't kiss him you're going to find that he can his anger can flare up in a moment and destroy you in the way.
[34:38] You're going about your way. You're going back to work tomorrow. You're going here. You're going there. You've got plans. And suddenly he will come and destroy those in rebellion. Zephaniah speaks in the fire of the day of the Lord's wrath in the fire of his jealousy the whole world will be consumed for he will make a sudden end of all who live on the earth.
[35:01] A sudden end. Men have been saying he's not come back. He's not coming back. No, he will come and make a sudden end of all the people of the earth.
[35:12] Zephaniah 1.18 And so to continue another moment in rebellion is to play Russian roulette with your eternity. Oh, be wise. Be warned.
[35:23] Be instructed. Bow. Kiss the sun. Lest you be angry and you perish from the way. But you know something? The psalm doesn't end on a word of judgment.
[35:34] Does it? And that tells us a lot about the Lord and his king. There's mercy with the Lord. He ends with a sweet promise of mercy for all repentant rebels who will accept the offered peace.
[35:52] You see it? Blessed, truly happy are all those who take refuge in him. Take refuge in this king. The only safe hiding place from his wrath is to stop running and rebelling and to turn and run into his arms of mercy.
[36:10] mercy. That's the only way of escaping his wrath. Or to end on Derek Kidner's note, there's no refuge from him, only in him.
[36:23] So, mercy triumphs over judgment when you get into Jesus Christ because there the judgment has already fallen. on Calvary.
[36:36] God punished his son for what we rebels had coming for all eternity. Therefore, if we get into Christ, there the judgment has already fallen.
[36:49] The fire has fallen. We're on that burnt off area. We're safe from the coming judgment. No refuge from him, only in him.
[37:00] And for we who have quit rebelling and have kissed the son. What have we found? What have you found? Well, we found that he's received us, rebels that we were.
[37:12] We found that he's forgiven us all of our sins, past, present, future. We found what a gracious and kind king he is. We are indeed blessed. We are indeed happy.
[37:24] Our circumstances might be rotten, but we're the happiest people on earth. Jesus is our king. He loves us. He's taking us home to be with him.
[37:37] What a blessed thing to be under his kind rule and to know his smile, his favor upon us. So what shall we do? Two closing applications. Number one, pray for our leaders to be made wise for salvation.
[37:50] First Timothy 2.2, pray for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. because while our leaders rebel against God, it affects us and our quiet and peaceful lives in all godliness and holiness.
[38:07] So pray for them. Secondly, show by your glad obedience to the king of kings that his laws are not burdensome, but blessings. That his commandments are holy, righteous, and good.
[38:20] Good for us. A blessing for us. That we found his yoke is easy and his burden is light. That his law is not a fetter, a chain of bondage, but it's the perfect law of liberty, James 1.25.
[38:34] The perfect law that gives freedom. And that's why David says, and we should be saying with him in Psalm 119.32, I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.
[38:52] Where do free hearts run? You know what the world wants. They want to throw off the rule of God so that they can run in the broad road of sin. What happens when one is really set free from sin?
[39:06] Through the mercy and grace of God in conversion. They find that narrow road of God's commands and they run in it. Why? Because they're free now. The bonds are off of them.
[39:18] They've had the chains of sin broken and they run and they leap in the ways of God's commands because that's where freed hearts run. Show that. Show that to your neighbors.
[39:30] Show that to your people that work around you at work. Show that to your family. You might be the only Christian in your family. Show them that his laws are not burdensome but are the blessing, the way to the flourishing life now and for all eternity.
[39:47] this is the king we get to worship this morning. Let's pray together. We come as redeemed rebels, God our Father and anointed Son and so we are humbled that you would have ever had mercy for us.
[40:09] May something of that tincture our worship this morning ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven who like me his praise should sing. And then give us that same mercy towards our neighbors and towards our rulers upon this nation, upon all the rulers of the world.
[40:31] Have mercy, Lord. As the evil comes in like a flood, we ask you to remember mercy in the day of wrath. Revive your church.
[40:43] Gather in many other rebels who are still rebelling just as we were and be glorified in your grace. We ask in Jesus' name.
[40:54] Amen.