Sermon Title: Kiss the Son Sermon Text: Psalm 2 Memory Verse: Psalm 2:12 MAIN IDEA: Worship the Lord Jesus Christ and rejoice before Him with trembling. Introduction: Psalm 2 and the Davidic Covenant Rage Against the Son Wrath of the Son Supremacy of the Son Worship the Son   NOTE: “Scripture quotations are from the NASB." This manuscript is provided as a courtesy and is not intended for publication. The audio and video message differs from the manuscript. Thanks for understanding.  

Introduction: Psalm 2 and the Davidic Covenant

Turn your bibles to Davidic Covenant in 2 Samuel 7. The Ark of the Covenant is in Jerusalem on Mount Zion. King David is dwelling in a cedar house the Ark is under a tent. David doesn’t feel right so he shares his concern with Nathan the prophet. Nathan says to David that he should do what he feels is best, but, that same night, the Lord speaks to Nathan and tells him that David need not build a house for the ark. God says that from the time of the wilderness until now, He has never asked for a house in which to place the ark. Instead, God tells Nathan to speak to David. ⁸ “Now therefore, thus you shall say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people Israel. ⁹ I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and (1) I will make you a great name, like the names of the great men who are on the earth. ¹⁰ (2) I will also appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they may live in their own place and not be disturbed again, nor will the wicked afflict them any more as formerly, ¹¹ even from the day that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel; and (3) I will give you rest from all your enemies. The Lord also declares to you that (4) the Lord will make a house for you.¹² When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, (5) I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³ He shall build a house for My name, and (6) I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. ¹⁴ (7) I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, (8) I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men, ¹⁵ but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you.¹⁶ (9) Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.”’”¹⁷ In accordance with all these words and all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David. (2 Samuel 7:8-17) Solomon will build the temple for the Ark. But, in denying David the privilege, God encourages David with a covenant. In the covenant with Abraham, God says Abraham’s seed will bless the nations. The Davidic covenant reveals God will bless the nations by establishing an eternal kingdom with a Messiah coming from the lineage of David. Psalm 2 is written about the Davidic Covenant. It is a celebration of God setting King David on the throne in Jerusalem and His promise to perpetuate the throne of David. The psalm celebrates David, his son Solomon, and ultimately Christ Jesus who is the perfect Davidic king who reigns eternally. The main idea of Psalm 2 is: MAIN IDEA: Worship the Lord Jesus Christ and rejoice before Him with trembling. There are four stanzas, each with three verses. The first stanza speaks of:

Rage Against the Son

¹ Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? ² The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, ³ “Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us!” (Ps. 2:1-3) The nations seek to break their ties with God by taking a stand against King David. After David is installed as King, the surrounding nations continue to rise in rebellion against Israel and King David’s rule. David expresses wonder at why the surrounding nations could think about such a vain, unfruitful idea of fighting against God. In the slang of today, we might say, “what in the world are they thinking?” David is the second of God’s anointed kings. The Lord instructed Samuel the prophet to pour a horn of oil on David’s head when he was around the age of 15. God’s Holy Spirit came upon David from that day forward (1 Sam. 16:13). The kings of Israel are God’s anointed. That is the reason why David refused to harm Saul because he is God’s anointed (1 Sam. 24:6). Looking back, we know the Psalm refers to David, but, in a much greater way, refers to Jesus as the King of kings. As David writes, he has insight into God’s plan that people in the surrounding nations do not have. David knows of God’s covenant promise. God promises the other nations will not triumph over David or any other king who sits on David’s throne. The nations are blind to recent history or else they would see the foolishness of their attempts. The surrounding nations know God is on the side of Israel. News of the God of Israel is spread throughout the land. The nations know they are not just fighting another nation, in fighting Israel they are fighting Jehovah God. They know God miraculously brought Israel out of Egypt, fell the walls of Jericho, and defeated countless nations in the Promised Land. Israel is God’s chosen nation. The Philistines are among the nations who rage against Israel. Of all the nations, we might think that they would be hesitant to come up against King David. David went one-on-one against Goliath, their mightiest soldier. When the women sang, Saul has slain his thousands, but David has slain his tens of thousands, they were singing about slaying Philistines (1 Sam. 18:7). Despite their horrible track record against David, they still plot against him. The people stand against the Lord and His Anointed because they are deceived by Satan. They want to break the fetters and cast away the cords binding them to God. What they really need is to have the binds tying them to Lucifer cast away. Satan perpetually fights against Jesus as Lord and he uses people to fight his battles. Peter and John use Psalm 2 to explain how in the first century, the fight against the Lord and His Anointed continues. After being arrested for preaching the resurrection and later being released from prison, they say this: ²³When they had been released, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. ²⁴And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, “O Lord, it is You who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them, ²⁵who by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our father David Your servant, said, ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, And the peoples devise futile things? ²⁶ ‘The kings of the earth took their stand, And the rulers were gathered together Against the Lord and against His Christ.’ ²⁷“For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, ²⁸to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur. (Acts 4:23-29) The stand against Jesus is God’s predestined plan from the beginning. God knows Satan will fight against Him until the end of time. The apostles recognize that Herod, Pontius Pilate, and the Gentiles are doing what God predestines. John witnessed the crucifixion and read the sign over Jesus’ head which read, “King of the Jews.” He and the other apostles know from history, and from their present-day experience, the nations rage against God. But, God uses Satan’s rage for good. The rage against the Son didn’t stop in the first century. The people of the earth rage against the Lord today, and will continue until the end of the age. John’s vision reveals this truth. He writes: And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. (Rev. 19:19) The rage against the Anointed Messiah is as old as creation. It will continue to be a fact of life on earth as long as we live. As the people rage against the Son, we expect the Son will respond.

Wrath of the Son

⁴ He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them. ⁵ Then He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury, saying, ⁶ “But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.” (Ps. 2:4-6) God laughs at the plans of men. Imagine witnessing centuries of failed rebellion from God’s perspective. God is eternal, and men are like grass. He. God sets the stars and planets in the furthest reaches of the galaxy and men have yet to venture past the moon. God shakes the earth and the strongholds of men fall like toothpicks. How can anyone even imagine they may make straight what God makes crooked? David is the king who God installed upon Mt. Zion and he knows full well God placed him there and intends to keep him there. Opposing King David is opposing the will of God. After hearing the covenant, David prays God will magnify His name through David’s reign. As the psalm says, God speaks in His anger and terrifies His enemies with great fury. King David defeats the Philistines to the west, the Ammonites and Moabites to the east, the Aramaeans to the north, and the Edomites to the southeast. There is no neighboring nation able to defeat the armies of King David. And, God gets the glory. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. There is coming a great day of judgment when God will answer the rage against His Son with a mighty wrath led by His Son on a white horse. God’s wrath proves the point of the next stanza, which is:

Supremacy of the Son

⁷ “I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. ⁸ ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as Your possession. ⁹ ‘You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.’” (Ps. 2:7-9) The Davidic covenant says David’s descendant is as a son to God and the nations are His inheritance. In this stanza, David says that he will surely tell of the decree God has made. David will surely tell the nations, “God gives the nations to the One who sits upon my throne.” Wouldn’t we do the same? Let’s put ourselves in David’s shoes. If we sat on the throne of Israel and God made a covenant with us that our house and our kingdom shall endure and be established forever, would we remain silent? Of course, not. We also will surely tell of the decree of the Lord. David is a king begotten by God, which means brought forth by God. All the kings of Israel who sit on David’s throne are begotten by God as king. David, Solomon, and Jesus are begotten kings by God. Romans 13 teaches that God establishes all authority. Jesus is God’s begotten Son Who is brought forth to reign as King forever. Paul declares this on his first missionary journey in Antioch. Listen to how Paul cites Psalm 2: ²⁶“Brethren, sons of Abraham’s family, and those among you who fear God, to us the message of this salvation has been sent. ²⁷“For those who live in Jerusalem, and their rulers, recognizing neither Him nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning Him. ²⁸“And though they found no ground for putting Him to death, they asked Pilate that He be executed. ²⁹“When they had carried out all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb. ³⁰“But God raised Him from the dead; ³¹and for many days He appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now His witnesses to the people. ³²“And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers, ³³that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, ‘You are My Son; today I have begotten You.’ (Acts 13:26-33) The Holy Spirit opens the eyes of the Apostles to Psalm 2 so they understand, Jesus coming forth from the grave is the affirmation of Christ as the King. The resurrection from the dead is Jesus being brought forth by God. Jesus conquers the enemies of Satan, sin, and the grave. In overcoming the grave, Jesus breaks the hold of Satan with a rod of iron and shatters him like earthenware; as dry pottery falling upon stones and crushing into pieces. The New Testament uses uses Psalm 2:7 two more times. The writer of Hebrews uses the verse to show the deity (Heb. 1:5) and the priesthood of Christ (Heb. 5:5). The next Another reference to this stanza is made by John on the island of Patmos. Twice John writes of the supremacy of Christ. The first reference is made to the message to the church in Thyatira. John writes: ²⁶‘He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations; ²⁷and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from My Father; (Rev. 2:26-27) The second reference John gives is when he speaks of the final battle of Jesus over all His enemies. He writes: ¹¹And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. ¹²His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. ¹³He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. ¹⁴And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. ¹⁵From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. ¹⁶And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” (Revelation 19:11-16) As we can see from the New Testament authors, Psalm 2 is an important psalm for us to understand how the Davidic covenant shapes our understanding of our Savior and His supremacy over all things. These truths lead us to the final stanza of the psalm which teaches us how we are to respond as God’s people. The fourth point of the psalm is this:

Worship the Son

¹⁰ Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth. ¹¹ Worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling. ¹² Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, for His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him! (Ps. 2:10-12) Ultimately, knowledge of God’s decree and the impending wrath of the Son should lead us to worship the Son. From this stanza, we see three applications for us today.

1) Give warning of the Son

We need to warn the people of the earth. We need to help those around us discern that their stand against the Lord and His anointed is vain and leads to destruction. When people mock the Son of God, belittle His death on the cross, or use His name as a curse, do they think God is not getting angry? Is the God who created eyes blind to disobedience and rebellion? Is the Almighty God who created ears deaf to words spoken against Him? Listen to how Isaiah describes the “Day of the Lord.” Let this image burn into our heart and move us to have a proper reverence and fear of the Lord. ⁹ Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it. ¹⁰ For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light. ¹¹ I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant, and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless. ¹² I will make people more rare than fine gold, and mankind than the gold of Ophir. ¹³ Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the Lord of hosts in the day of his fierce anger. ¹⁴ And like a hunted gazelle, or like sheep with none to gather them, each will turn to his own people, and each will flee to his own land. ¹⁵ Whoever is found will be thrust through, and whoever is caught will fall by the sword. ¹⁶ Their infants will be dashed in pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished. (Isaiah 13:9-16) What a sobering passage of God’s righteous judgment. Nobody else on earth holds this information. Only God’s people. We have a responsibility to warn people of their doom. Listen to how God spoke to Ezekiel: ⁷ “Now as for you, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a message from My mouth and give them warning from Me. ⁸ When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand. ⁹ But if you on your part warn a wicked man to turn from his way and he does not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your life. (Ez. 3:7-9) Give warning of the Son.

2) Kiss the Son

The proper response to the Kingship of the Lord Jesus Christ is reverence and rejoicing before Him with trembling. We are to do homage to Jesus. The Hebrew word for homage means to kiss the Son. We kiss the Son when we worship Him as Lord and obey His commands (which by the way, He commands us to call people to repentance). We must always approach Jesus as the mighty King. We do not want to make Him angry. We make Him angry when we are flippant about sin. He went to battle and gave His blood for our sin. When we tremble before Him, we are safe in His refuge. Kiss the Son.

3} Find Refuge in the Son

Does the Day of the Lord strike fear in your heart? It should. There is only one place to escape the wrath of the Son and that is to be safe in His arms. Instead of running from Him we are to run to Him. Those who worship Jesus are blessed. We need to help people see that living under the dominion of Jesus is the only way to be secure and find satisfaction and joy. Those who obey Jesus as Lord find shelter under His wings. Jesus’ commands are a fence to protect our joy, not a prison to make us wretched. As we sit under His wings, let’s not be surprised when those who do not know God rage against Him. They always did and they always will. No king, dictator, Prime Minister, President, or any ruler will overcome the one who sits on David’s throne. We need not be anxious about the world because Christ is our refuge. --- Give warning of impending judgment, kiss the Son, and find refuge in Christ the King. Psalm 2 is written so we may have unshakeable faith in Jesus Christ who sits on David’s throne eternally. We are witnesses to the faithfulness of God to fulfill His covenants. All the promises of God find their yes in Christ. We know God’s decree and plan. Let’s have compassion for the lost for they will surely face destruction. Their doom should move us to compassion so that we call them to repentance and so that the may worship alongside us as we tremble with rejoicing in reverent fear before God’s anointed King, heir to the throne of David, Jesus Christ.