1. "Why be angry to be under God's rule? And why do they plot in vain? Meaning, why on earth would you try to fight and rebel and strategize against the God who made heaven and earth? Does it make any sense to rebel against your maker?"

2. "When we try to silence the voice of the Spirit in some singular act of disobedience, we're doing at the micro level what they're doing at the macro level. We're trying to cast away the cords."

3. "The attitude that says, I will obey God except in this particular thing, is a cancer that will metastasize. It will spread to our destruction. Micro-rebellions are manifestations of this same desire to throw off the rule and reign of God."

4. "When you or I persist in sin, we're provoking the divine response. It's a delayed response due to the grace and mercy of God, but it is nonetheless coming, and it can come quite suddenly without warning."

5. "You and I should live with a constant horror in the back of our mind of ever being found in rebellion against this God. May it never be."

6. "When countries expel missionaries and imprison pastors and make it illegal to do evangelism, or when there's no evident fruit to gospel ministry, it doesn't mean that God will not prevail. What we're witnessing then is not a failure to notice. It's not a failure to act. It's just a delay."

7. "If you're struggling with joy right now, the answer is not to chill out and stop taking things so seriously. The best way for you to restore your joy is to restore your trembling."

8. "We're counseled here to grab this opportunity with both hands while it's there, the opportunity to be reconciled to God through his Son. And notice that the danger of missing out is underlined, lest you perish in the way."

9. "The happiness that many think is found in their autonomy and their freedom and casting off restraint, it's actually found in the sheltering fold of Jesus, taking refuge in him."

10. "Being in a church service does not mean you are reconciled with God. So I ask you, are you right with him this morning?"

Observation Questions

1. In Psalm 2:1-2, who does David identify as rebelling against the Lord, and what specific actions does he say they are taking together?

2. According to Psalm 2:3, what do the rebels say they want to do with "their bonds" and "their cords"? What does this reveal about their attitude toward God's rule?

3. In Psalm 2:4-5, how does God respond to the rebellion of the nations? What two distinct responses are described?

4. What does God declare He has done in Psalm 2:6, and where has He done it?

5. In Psalm 2:7-9, what does the Lord promise to give the Son when He asks, and what will the Son do to those who refuse to submit?

6. According to Psalm 2:10-12, what three commands are given to the kings and rulers, and what blessing is promised to those who respond rightly?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why does David express astonishment at the nations' rebellion by asking rhetorical questions in verse 1? What is he trying to communicate about the nature of fighting against God?

2. What is the significance of God "laughing" and holding the rebels "in derision" (v. 4)? How does this contrast with the anxious plotting of the nations, and what does it reveal about God's sovereignty?

3. How does the New Testament's use of Psalm 2:7 (such as in Acts 13:33) help us understand who the "Son" is and what "today I have begotten you" means in relation to Jesus's resurrection?

4. The sermon distinguishes between "macro-rebellion" and "micro-rebellion" against God. How does the text of Psalm 2:1-3 help us understand that even small, singular acts of disobedience share the same heart attitude as overt rebellion?

5. Why does the psalm end with both a warning ("lest he be angry and you perish in the way") and a blessing ("Blessed are all who take refuge in him")? How do these two outcomes relate to the command to "kiss the Son"?

Application Questions

1. The sermon mentioned "micro-rebellions"—small areas where we try to silence the Spirit's conviction (like neglecting worship, refusing to forgive, or justifying harsh words). What specific area of your life might you be treating as an exception to God's rule, and what would it look like to surrender that area this week?

2. Psalm 2:11 commands us to "serve the Lord with fear." The sermon asked whether we serve God with eager reverence or reluctant obligation. How would you describe your current attitude toward serving in your church or community, and what might need to change?

3. The combination of "rejoice with trembling" (v. 11) suggests that true joy comes alongside a reverent awe of God. If you are struggling with joy right now, how might a fresh look at who God is and what He has done in Christ restore both trembling and rejoicing in your life?

4. The sermon emphasized that we do not know how many days we have and that judgment can come suddenly "in the way." How does this urgency affect the way you think about sharing the gospel with someone in your life who has not yet "kissed the Son"?

5. The psalm concludes with the promise that "blessed are all who take refuge in him." What does it practically look like for you to take refuge in Christ this week—in your anxieties, your decisions, or your relationships—rather than seeking security in your own autonomy?

Additional Bible Reading

1. 2 Samuel 7:8-16 — This passage records God's covenant with David, including the promise that God would be a father to David's offspring, which Psalm 2:7 echoes and which finds ultimate fulfillment in Jesus.

2. Acts 13:26-39 — Paul's sermon in Antioch explicitly quotes Psalm 2:7 and applies it to Jesus's resurrection, showing how the early church understood this psalm as messianic.

3. Revelation 19:11-16 — This passage depicts Christ returning as King of Kings to judge the nations with a "rod of iron," directly quoting Psalm 2:9 and showing its ultimate fulfillment.

4. Matthew 28:16-20 — Jesus declares that all authority has been given to Him and commissions His disciples to make disciples of all nations, connecting to the Son's inheritance of the nations in Psalm 2:8.

5. Romans 1:18-25 — Paul describes humanity's suppression of the truth and rebellion against God, providing theological depth to the heart attitude of the rebels depicted in Psalm 2:1-3.

Sermon Main Topics

I. Opening: The Most Important Question We Can Ask

II. The Rebels (Psalm 2:1-3)

III. The Ruler (Psalm 2:4-6)

IV. The Royal Son (Psalm 2:7-9)

V. The Refuge (Psalm 2:10-12)

VI. Closing Appeal: Kiss the Son and Take Refuge in Him

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Detailed Sermon Outline

As one of the supported missionaries of this church, I am indebted to you in so many ways. I was thinking about the commitment of CHBC to missions. I see it in the financial support that we've received, the way you pray for us so faithfully, the pastoral visits that you send to us, and even many of the members that have visited us over in East Asia. And in the very, very serious way in which you interview men who who try to marry your single missionary women.

There was a series of interviews in the process. There was some bad Asian food in the basement of Union Station. Pastor Dever, there was a French breakfast on Pennsylvania Avenue with Andy Johnson. And there was a very nice dinner on Route 50 in Arlington with Bob Maxine Zupf. And there were concerns that were raised at that interview.

Bob was concerned that I wasn't eating my vegetables. He told me both green and yellow, important to have both. And that if I was going to be healthy, I needed to eat them. I did.

Maxine simply looked at me at a point in the dinner and said, we really, really like Meghan Weaver. And then she just looked at me.

And I wasn't sure if she was commending my good choice or if she were saying, Don't mess this up.

I was so grateful for them and the way they encouraged me and the way you have encouraged Meghan and I in our work for many years now. What a privilege to open God's Word with you this morning. I want to begin with some questions that we might ask ourselves.

Why do I spend more money than I can afford?

What am I looking for as I scroll and scroll and scroll?

Why do I not exercise? I only think about exercising. Why do I drive so fast even when I'm not late to something?

Why do I leave church after the service instead of staying around for conversation and fellowship? Why do I eat things that I know are not good for me?

Why do I study to pass the test but not really to learn? Why do I give myself the benefit of the doubt, but nobody else? Why don't I visit the doctor for a checkup to see how healthy I am?

Why do I assume they don't like me when I don't really know?

Some questions we might ask ourselves. Those are all questions that I've asked myself before. And admittedly, they're all questions with an edge. That they're meant to diagnose something we perceive to be a problem in our life. To try to understand why we live in a way that doesn't really make much sense.

Sometimes we get a glimpse of something about ourselves and we wonder, yeah, why do I do that? Do you know what I mean? We might be able to rank these sorts of diagnostic questions as some more important than others, some are higher on the list, some are lower. Some questions we ask ourselves might have to do with a better long-term life strategy, something we'll be glad we did six months from now, like exercising, not just thinking about it. But there are some questions that could rocket up to the top of the list in a moment.

So the question of why I drive so fast might become the key question if the driver in front of me makes a bad decision and I'm left without the time to react. That doctor's checkup might become the key question if it means catching some kind of illness while it's still treatable.

Am I in a right relationship? With God? I wonder how you think about that question. Am I in a right relationship with God? We might be tempted to categorize that as a spiritual question, the kind that can wait until other pressing things in our lives are taken care of.

We've got things that are filling our week to come. Maybe those things loom larger to us? Or perhaps it's a question we just assume without really thinking much about it. But what if that question, am I in a right relationship with God? What if that's the most important question?

We're going to look this morning at the second Psalm. Psalms is a book of prayers in the Old Testament. It's meant to guide God's people into worship. The first two Psalms are a summary of the whole. They're meant to describe to us the entirety of the Christian life.

Psalm 1:1 begins, Blessed is the man. Psalm 2:12, Blessed are all those who take refuge in him. Together, they're answering this question, who is the person who is blessed by God? Psalm 1 tells us the blessed person delights in God's Word, Psalm 2 that we're going to look at this morning tells us the blessed person submits to God's Son. That's what we're going to think about this morning, that the extent and quality of your submission to God's Son is the extent and quality of your blessedness.

And if that's true, then there's no more important question than we could ask this morning. Let me read the text and then I'll give you an outline for our time. You can follow along in your copy of the Scriptures. Or use that Pew Bible in front of you, it's on page 448, page 448, Psalm 2.

Why do the nations rage and the people's plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed, saying, Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us. He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, 'As for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. 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.' 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, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

The psalm breaks easily into four sections. The four stanzas of the psalm, we'll think about it in four points. Number one, the rebels. The rebels, it's verses 1 through 3.

Point two, the ruler. The ruler, it's verses 4 through 6.

Point three, the royal son. The royal son, verses 7 through 9. And point four, the refuge. The refuge, verses 10 through 12. So the rebels, the ruler, the royal son, and the refuge.

It's my prayer that all of us would leave here this morning resolved to get right with God and stay that way. Let's dive into the text. Point number one, the rebels. And I'll read the first three verses again. Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us. David is the author of the psalm. He's writing as king in Jerusalem. And this first stanza is about the nations and peoples around Israel. When David began his reign, it was just the 12 tribes of Israel that he was ruling over.

By the end of his reign, he ruled over Edom and Moab and Ammon and Syria. So stretching from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Euphrates River in the east, and from the Red Sea in the south to the Lebanon Mountains in the north. So more peoples have come under Israel's control. And from the biblical perspective, these conquered peoples should view this as an opportunity for them to know the true and living God. They should have viewed it as a wonderful thing to go from complete ignorance of who he is to an opportunity to worship him.

It's something that they should have rejoiced in. And what we see here is that their attitude is completely the opposite. David is astonished at this. He begins by asking a question, why do the nations rage? He means, why be angry to be under God's rule?

And why do they plot in vain? Meaning, why on earth would you try to fight and rebel and strategize against the God who made heaven and earth? Does it make any sense to rebel against your maker? Now, these are rhetorical questions like the ones we began with. They're designed to make the hearer think.

Parents of teenagers know how to ask rhetorical questions.

Why are you trying to perfect your Minecraft world when you have an algebra test tomorrow? It's not a question that is asking for reasons. It's meant to communicate the preposterous nature of the behavior.

The rebellion David refers to by nations was not caused by the common people alone. Verse 2 tells us it was fomented by their leaders. The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together Notice this is not a momentary decision to fight Yahweh. This is not temporary rage. This is deep-seated hate that they have for God.

Those phrases set themselves and take counsel together, point to a deliberateness to their resistance against the Lord and against His anointed. We might ask whether these nations were conscious of their rebellion against God. Maybe they thought of themselves as just trying to gain political freedom from the king of Israel. Many people around us might be surprised to know that the Bible considers them enemies of God if they are not in Christ. Whether they're conscious of it or not, it's clear from the text that they are, in fact, rebels against God.

He reports the speech of the nations here. Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us. Now, this helps us understand what's going on. They simply don't want to be ruled by someone else. They say, Let us be our own lords.

Let us get rid of all restraint. Modern language, no right, no wrong, no rules for me. I'm free. That's the desire. And it's one that we can see all around us, can't we?

We live in a world full of rebellion against God. People want to be their own judge of right and wrong. They can live as they see fit. They don't want a judge of the way they spend their money. I mean, who would invite an audit?

Who would invite that kind of scrutiny? Who wants to invite a judge of the way we treat people around us? Someone to require us to keep forgiving our spouse again and again and again till death do us part. Someone requiring us to be kind to other people when they're not kind to us. Who will tell us that we're not allowed to hate anyone but have to turn the other cheek and love our enemies?

Who would want scrutiny of our sexual purity, of eyes and mind and behavior. Human beings after the fall are wired for moral freedom. It's intrinsic to our fallen nature to think that we are better off that way, that God's law would do us harm rather than do us good. Sometimes this human longing to be free takes the form of creative religion. Religion that reflects our desires.

Perhaps a God who is there when I need him but doesn't ask anything of me. In the city I live in, there is a temple in the city center, the City God Temple, we could translate it that way, Cheng Huang Miao. And people stream there when they have some great need. So parents go there the night before their child will take the college entrance exam. You go there if you have a sick relative perhaps or if there's a job performance review that is coming up.

And it's a very transactional relationship. You bring and you burn incense or you make an offering. You're hoping that the deity, which is very vague in the mind of the people who go there, is going to help you solve this problem.

And then when you walk away, he won't require anything of you. It's creative religion. Or alternatively, instead of creating religion, some embrace a practical atheism, as if there's no creator, no judge to worry about at all. Either strategy fits what's described here, applauding to burst the bonds and cast away the courts. Now, for those of us who call ourselves Christians, I trust that this kind of loud, overt, active rebellion against God doesn't describe us.

What we could recall macro-rebellion is perhaps not where you are. But there is still much for us to think on here because we are ever tempted by micro-rebellions. What do I mean? Well, when we try to silence the voice of the Spirit in some singular act of disobedience, we're doing at the micro level what they're doing at the macro level. We're trying to cast away the cords.

So we know that the Lord's Day worship of the church is to be central to our lives, but perhaps we tell ourselves it's okay to come late. It's okay to come infrequently. It's okay to come physically, but not engage our minds and our hearts. That's a micro-rebellion.

Or perhaps, though, we know we're commanded to forgive others as we've been forgiven. We say, Not that person. I'm not going to forgive that person. That's a micro-rebellion. Perhaps the father has grown harsh in his words to his wife and children.

He justifies it rather than repenting over it. I did yell, but she did deserve it. Friends, these sorts of micro rebellions are incredibly dangerous. Once allowed to exist in our lives, they don't stay static. The attitude that says, I will obey God except in this particular thing, is a cancer.

That will metastasize. It will spread to our destruction. Micro-rebellions are manifestations of this same desire to throw off the rule and reign of God. Now, remember in the Psalm here, David is expressing his astonishment at this behavior. He thinks it's crazy.

And that's because he knows that following God is not in fact a heavy burden. It's not something that needs to be thrown off. As Jesus would later put it, His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

Spurgeon put it this way, To a graceless neck the yoke of Christ is intolerable, but to the saved sinner it is easy and light. So we want to ask ourselves this question, Do we love the yoke? Or do we wish, like the people in this psalm, to cast it away from us? Now, how does the text address rebellion against God? Let's look at our second point, the second stanza, the ruler.

Verse 4, He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then He will speak to them in His wrath, and terrify them in His fury, saying, 'As for Me, I have set My King on Zion, My holy hill. ' The scene shifts here. We were at the council chamber of the rebellion where there's raging and plotting. Now we're in the heavens where God is sitting on His throne.

He's composed. He is certain of Himself. You get this feeling of incredible distance from these angry and anxious people down on earth and God who is in the heavens. And in control. He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, as Isaiah puts it, and the people are but as grasshoppers.

We're told here that there is a twofold response from the Lord. The first is he laughs. God's laughter in the Bible is not lighthearted or merry. Here it is the laughter of contempt. There's a similar verse in Psalm 3712, the wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him.

But the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming. This is the laughter of scorn. It uses the word derision here. The Lord holds them in derision. What that means is the Lord doesn't think their actions even require an immediate response.

This is a ridiculous scene. I'm not even sure how to illustrate it. I thought of a child who might in rage decide to hit his father. And the father just puts his hand on his forehead and holds him while the child just swings at the air.

But any illustration that we come up with falls infinitely short because this is God. This is the omnipotent one. This is not a rebellion that could remotely concern or threaten Him. There is no such rebellion. God is not insecure.

We're told of His second response in verse 5, As the rebels spoke, now the ruler speaks. And we're told it's a word of wrath and a terrifying word of fury. One of the great challenges we have as human beings is to understand what is meant by this phrase, the wrath of God. What does his fury mean? We know it's his anger against sin and all that is unholy.

How do you and I understand such things? I mean, we can relate to being angry about sin, a sin committed against us or against someone that we love. But our reaction is always going to be tainted by the fact that we're sinners ourselves. So we always have far more in common with the person committing the sin than with the Holy One. And we're not the sovereign against whom all sin is ultimately directed.

So if you lie to me, I might feel anger, but I lie too. So I'm apt to excuse it or merely to feel anger at what it costs me. But even more, I'm not the source of truth, so your lie doesn't offend my being.

But for God, it does. Wrath flows from the righteousness of His very being. His nature reacts against that which is unrighteous, unholy, He's opposed to sin and to sinners. He has the settled determination to destroy it and to destroy them. So God speaks there in verse 6, in His wrath.

And what does He say? As for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. Zion is the outcropping of rock that the temple in Jerusalem was built on. So it refers to the special place where God meets with His people. It's holy because of God's presence and because the sacrifices for sin were made there.

But we might ask, why is this setting of his king in Jerusalem the response to the rebellion?

The answer has to be that this king is the one that they're going to have to deal with. They can rage and they can plot and take counsel and do whatever they want to right now.

But in the end, they must deal with the anointed king. They have to face him.

Now, before we get to the third stanza, we should again apply this to ourselves. Whatever our state of macro-rebellion or micro-rebellions against God, this should be a very sobering realization that comes over us here. Because we're left to consider, what is the divine response to our own statements of rebellion? We've got to evaluate ourselves here, not hypothetically, but really.

The Scripture says, I will set before my eyes no vile thing. If I say, I will set before my eyes this vile thing, what is the response from the throne? Scripture says, Love your neighbor as yourself. But I say, I'm going to get what's mine. I'm not going to share.

If somebody is unkind to me, I will be unkind to them. What's the response from the throne?

Scripture says, Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. We say, I will be harsh, demanding, unyielding. What's the response from the throne? Scripture says, Honor your father and mother.

But we say, My parents are driving me crazy right now. I'm not going to listen to them.

When you or I persist in sin, we're provoking the divine response. It's a delayed response due to the grace and mercy of God, but it is nonetheless coming, and it can come quite suddenly without warning. Friends, you and I have to live conscious of the wrath of God.

I was thinking about the fact that parents of toddlers live with a constant horror in the back of their mind of losing track of their child. Lest in a moment the child run out into the street or something. It never leaves. You and I should live with a constant horror in the back of our mind of ever being found in rebellion against this God. May it never be.

Do you believe this morning that it's a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God in your sin?

We've considered the rebels and the ruler. We turn thirdly to the royal son, in 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.' the scene has shifted again. We move from the heavenly throne room now to the king in Jerusalem. And he, David, tells of the decree that the Lord made concerning him at his coronation when he was installed as the king. The language of youf are my son today I have begotten you points to what God told David through the prophet Nathan in 2 Samuel 7:14, I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.

Begotten doesn't mean made here. David at his installation already existed and was actually already the Lord's anointed. Today I have begotten you means today I have revealed you as king. Now, at this point in the psalm, there is a blending of contexts. David is still speaking about being told he is God's begotten son as the anointed king.

But as the psalm goes on, it sounds increasingly like he's talking not just about himself. This is a messianic psalm. It is clearly pointing to Jesus. That's why this language of the begotten son is used by the writers of the New Testament. So when Jesus arrives on the scene, John writes that we have seen his glory, as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

So Jesus is clearly recognized as uniquely and specially God's begotten Son. And that's why in the early preaching of the gospel, this psalm was often reached for, to talk about what Jesus had done on the cross, and especially about the day of his resurrection. As the day that's being referred to. So listen to Paul preaching in Antioch. We bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus.

As also it is written in the second Psalm, you, are my Son, today I have begotten you. Paul means there's a sense in which when Jesus rose from the dead, it was his coronation day.

When He was revealed as the only begotten Son of God, He was triumphantly revealed as the Messiah King.

Now, what is this Messiah King going to do? Two things that we're told here. First, He asks for the nations. Look at verse 8, Ask of Me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. It was the custom of great kings to give favored ones whatever they might ask, and the Messiah is invited to ask for all the nations as a heritage, and the ends of the earth as a possession, meaning to ask for a global kingdom.

And this desire will be granted. The Lord says, I will make this to be so. We should in our minds link this with Matthew 28:19 in the New Testament, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus, so asked for and granted at His resurrection, an inheritance of the nations. But amazingly, in Matthew 28, it's the disciples who are to be a part of the fulfillment. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations.

Amazingly, Christians play a role in bringing people under the loving rule and reign of God. That's why churches should make it their aim to do more than just care for themselves. They should strain in their budgets, not just to pay to have a place to meet and pay to have pastors who can preach the word to them, but also to give money to plant new churches and send missionaries to places where there are no churches. I've been watching this congregation do that very thing for more than 20 years since I married one of the missionaries you sent out. And I can testify to you of the great fruit that has been borne by all of your investment where I live.

There are churches across our city, a meeting 12 hours ago, the scene looks different than the building that we're in right now. The numbers are much smaller, but I think you would be amazed at how similar their gatherings are. The singing, the praying, the reading of God's Word, and the preaching. How amazing is it that you could invest that way? Is there a better return on investment than supporting missionaries?

I think not.

And many, many in the history of the church have read these words. They've come to this verse and they've made it their prayer, not inappropriately. It's addressed to the Messiah, but we who follow him make this request ours and we say, Lord, use me for the spread of the gospel. Would you use me in some small way? The power is all his.

We can't change anybody's heart, but would you use me certainly in the people around me, but you might even bring to me people from far, far away that I could share the gospel with. And maybe the Lord would call you to go somewhere more strategic for the gospel. That's a wonderful prayer to make from this verse. Now, as we come back to the context of Psalm Two, remember that it was rebels at war in the first stanza. The reign of the Messiah, which as we do evangelism and missions, we hope will be welcomed by the nations, is not always welcomed by the people.

Not by the rebels. Verse 9 tells us what will happen to them.

You shall break them with a rod of iron; and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. An iron rod or scepter points to the severity of the judgment that will come upon them. A potter's vessel is a piece of pottery that when it's broken, it shatters into so many pieces that it's completely beyond recovery. So this omnipotent king will break those.

Who do not bend the knee to him. You either bend of your own will or you will be broken beyond recovery. This verse is quoted in Revelation 19, when Jesus returns on a white horse leading the armies of heaven to make war. It says there, From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.

On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. For the Christian, this is an important reminder that when we don't see the progress of the kingdom on earth, that doesn't mean God's kingdom will not prevail. When countries expel missionaries and imprison pastors and make it illegal to do evangelism, or when there's no evident fruit to gospel ministry and the masses continue in worship of false gods or no God at all, it doesn't mean that God will not prevail. When God seems mocked and nothing seems to be done about it, what we're witnessing then is not a failure to notice. It's not a failure to act.

It's just a delay. We should not lose heart or be discouraged. We've got to be patient and recognize that it's merely a delay, a delay in the execution of judgment. And as the final stanza shows us, this is a gracious delay indeed. Let's look fourth and finally at the refuge, 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, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

David, the author, is speaking here. He addresses the rebels of verse 1 to 3. Now therefore, in light of this vision of the ruler on the throne and the installation of His anointed Messiah King, what should they do? And by extension, this final section is going to tell us what we should do. But notice, before the action comes the persuasion.

He says, Be wise. Do that which makes the most sense. Do what's best for you. And be warned, the judgment just spoken of looms. There's a sense of pleading here in the second Psalm.

It begins with a question, why do the nations rage and the people plot in vain? Now the exhortation is couched in pleading to reverse course, to live wisely. As sinful human beings, we are capable of such stiff-necked foolishness. We can see it in others. I have a friend who is destroying his life in alcoholism right now.

I've spoken to him, his friends speak to him, his family speaks to him. He's the only one who can't see it.

It's terrible to be blind to the thing that is most needful. So we take heed here. Be wise, be warned. And all converges on this point: there are three things that must be done. The application is in the psalm.

Number one, serve the Lord with fear.

The word serve is often translated worship, so to bow your knee in worshipful adoration, but then to live that out in a life of service. But the accompanying perspective is fear, a reverent fear. Seeing God rightly makes for a serving with reverence. You know, we can serve without reverence in some areas of our lives. Perhaps we can think about a work supervisor we've had for whom we don't have any particular respect.

We can still serve under them. When I was first leading a team of missionaries, I had a gal come to me about a month in. She had come over to serve for a year, and she told me that she didn't like the way I was leading the team and that I had her doing the wrong sort of thing, and she had some ideas on how we could improve things. And I rightly discerned that she didn't have any particular respect or awe for me as the team leader. That was probably due to my youth and inexperience.

She served that year and she served well. Sometimes we have to serve without fear. But friends, we should never have to serve this way in our Christian lives. To serve without a reverential fear. We owe Him everything.

With what eagerness should we serve? Some I've talked to seem to have no such fear. It makes them reluctant to serve in the church. There's a certain safety about preaching here and not there. But I think about some of the conversations I've had.

People tell me, as I talk to them about serving in the children's ministry, Mark, I just don't have time for that. I say, well, how about you get to know some of the new members? And they say, oh, that's not really my MO. And in my mind, I have thought, maybe you could let the Almighty know what you have time for.

Or are we so in awe of Him that we'd be happy to do anything? We'd be happy to sweep the floors if they would let us. Anything to serve the King. Serve the Lord with fear. A second thing must be done: rejoice with trembling.

We might find this to be an odd combination, like an unexpected chemical compound, rejoicing while we're trembling. Remember the women leaving the empty tomb? It said they went on their way with fear and great joy. That's the compound. They're happy and they're afraid at the same time.

Maybe we think about a parent witnessing the birth of a child. They're trembling but they're rejoicing. Or like a bride and groom on the wedding day. They're shaking but they're laughing and giggling too.

Rejoicing with trembling is essential to our Christian lives.

If you're struggling with joy right now, that's a very real struggle that we go through. The answer is not to chill out and stop taking things so seriously. That's the answer that you might hear in pop psychology. The best way for you to restore your joy is to restore your trembling. To take a fresh look at who God is, the reality of your dreadful condition apart from the grace of God, the fact that at any moment you could pass from time into eternity and the certainty of a holy God judging sin, but then to come afresh to this news, this glorious good news that Jesus, God's anointed Son, became a man for the purpose of substituting himself for everyone who would turn from their sins and trust in him.

He came to live the righteous life that I haven't lived and you haven't lived either. He came to take on himself all the sin of everyone who would repent and believe in Him. We don't have to pay for our sin anymore. Hallelujah. And so we come to this third thing that we must do: Kiss the Son.

Verse 12, Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you perish in the way.

For his wrath is quickly kindled. This is where the serving with fear and the rejoicing with trembling comes from. A great reconciliation that can take place. Kissing was a sign of homage and submission to a ruler by his subjects. The opportunity to approach the ruler is already incredibly gracious to be able to come and kiss his hands.

Kisses feet. And we're counseled here to grab this opportunity with both hands while it's there, the opportunity to be reconciled to God through his Son. And notice that the danger of missing out is underlined, lest you perish in the way. The way pictures a traveler on a course, and he thinks he's midway through the course.

He doesn't know that he's done. In 2020, I was here spending time with this congregation, but going through cancer treatment at Sibley Hospital.

And it was a very dark time for me physically and a very bright time spiritually. Because I think for the first time in my life, I mean, I always would have said that I know none of us knows how many days we we've got. I would have said that my whole life. But it wasn't until I was in the infusion center doing chemo with a fellowship of people, and believe me, we were close, that I thought, no, I've been thinking about this all wrong. 2020 might be the last year.

No, really, really, not hypothetically. I assume that most of us are sitting here, maybe all of us sitting here, just assuming 2026 is going to be a reality for us. Do you know that?

We spoke earlier of this gracious delay before He will come with the iron rod and dash the enemies to pieces like pottery. We have no idea when the delay will be over and the opportunity will pass and the situation on earth will be hardened into eternity. So this is what we must do. We should come humbly to Jesus, trusting him to forgive our sins through his death on the cross, and then rising to serve him with fear and to rejoice with tremble. That last line is meant to be a great comfort.

Blessed are all those who take refuge in him. The happiness that many think is found in their autonomy and their freedom and casting off restraint, it's actually found in the sheltering fold of Jesus, taking refuge in him. How wise it is to be reconciled to the Lord. How foolish to continue to live as if day after day will continue this way forever. This psalm speaks to us about the great hardness of heart that is in mankind.

How hard it is for the proud to bend the knee. It feels like death. It feels like death to self. We sometimes use the phrase, He will cut off his own nose despite his face. We mean that that he will bring harm to himself rather than admit he's wrong.

Parents know that sometimes kids will plunge headlong into disobedience knowing that it brings great punishment. But friends, is that us towards God?

Being in a church service does not mean you are reconciled with God. So I ask you, are you right with him this morning? I'm not concerned with your outward appearance, and I have no ability to see your heart. I'm simply asking whether you've been reconciled to God through Jesus, his Son. Whether you've kissed the Son.

Can you see that that's the only wise course of action? Why would you not make it your prayer today that God would forgive your rebellion against Him? He's promised to do just that. Why would you not turn from your sin and trust in Him this morning? Kiss the Son.

Tell Him today that you would lay down all of your weapons, all the weapons of your rebellion, and you would submit to Him. Say, God have mercy on me a sinner. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. Brothers and sisters in Christ, there is much for us to feast on here. We are reminded that reverence and humility should be mingled in all our service of the Lord.

He's a great God. We did nothing to deserve His grace. We ought to bend low in our worship and to look up at Him with hearts longing for obedience as to a great king and a great father. So rejoice with trembling. Blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him.

The blessed person submits to God's Son.

Questions we might ask ourselves: why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? Why do I? Why not kiss the Son? Why not take our refuge in Him? Let's pray together.

Our Father, you have been so very gracious to us. We're so grateful for the opportunity to trust in the Son and be forgiven of all of our sins. I pray now that you would give us faith and you would give us joy. For we pray in Jesus' name, amen.