Monthly Archives: August 2010

Psalm 2 (Part 2 of 3): God’s Response to the Uproar

12 Thursday Aug 2010

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This is the second section of the sermon I gave last Sunday.

We begin now with the second point of our discussion of Psalm Two:

God’s Response

Psalm 2:4-6
(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.”

God is NOT intimidated by the plans of humanity.  Not even slightly.

But he really doesn’t like it.  Why?

Because God is Good.

Because God is Holy.

Because God is Worthy-he alone is worthy.

Because He is God.  No matter what we do, he is going to win.

So we have God laughing at us for shaking our fists at Him.   Remember who we are in comparison to God: we are described as the flowers of grass (James 1:10).  There is lots of grass in the world.  Think about how many blades of grass you have seen in your lifetime, and how much you care about those individual blades.  Not one bit.  Yet God cares for us-knowing even the numbers of hairs on our heads.  Think if ants were bothering you- invading your house.  You might be annoyed, but you would probably just get rid of them.  It would be nothing.  You’d step on some, maybe spray some.  And the difference between us to God and ants to us is FAR greater.  God is INFINITE.  So what does he do about it?

He sends a king to rule over us.

Really?  That’s your solution, God?  You could just ignore us, but no, you are only making it worse!  Did you not notice we want to get rid of you?  And you sent a king? 

That moves us to see what God revealed to David in our third point:

God’s Conversation

Now we continue Psalm Two:

Psalm 2:7-9
(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.'”

This is a bit… ugly.

We tend not to think of God’s Son, Jesus, in this way.

We tend to think of Jesus like the stickers say: a Big Yellow Happy Face with a “Jesus loves You” caption.  Maybe with a rainbow, too.  I have yet to see a Big Red Angry Face with a “Jesus is going to dash you to bits” caption.  Maybe with an iron rod, too. Or a broken vase?

So let’s explore this.  What is happening here?

David starts by reminding us He is writing and God is talking:

  • You are my son, today I have begotten you.
  • This does NOT mean that Jesus was born or created. We know from John 1 that Jesus was at the creation.
  • What it DOES mean is that God the Father is putting Jesus into power.
  • Jesus does this, of course willingly.

Notice what God the Father gives to His son:

  • The nations as Your inheritance
  • The very Ends of the earth as Your possession.

Let’s explore these two things: the nations as your inheritance and the ends of the Earth as your possession.  Remember David is a Jew.  At the time of writing he is writing probably with the intent of Jews writing this.  For him to say that “The Nations” are your inheritance is a radical statement to the Jews.  It causes many problems for them (review Ephesians Two for more about this!)  The Jews are Chosen-the Gentiles are not, but here we have the Jewish Messiah, the Lion of Judah, we have Him inheriting all of the nations.  And just to make sure that we don’t lose that He really means the Nations, he explains the extent of this inheritance: The very ends of the earth.

That means, Jesus owns EVERYTHING. Your car, your house, your 401k, nation, your spouse, your children, you.   Toothbrushes, mountains, ipods, Spain.  Everything.  Why do we need to know this as important?  It is important so that we know because of three reasons:

  1. There is NO ESCAPE, unless He Himself makes it.  To the ends of the earth includes EVERYTHING!
  2. He will take care of those who take Refuge in Him (which we’ll get to in the next point)-this is the good part. 
  3. There are the directions that are given next: what God the Father tells His son to do.  “You shall break them with a rod of Iron, you shall shatter them like earthenware.”

Why such a command? This doesn’t sound very loving, does it?  Actually, it is loving. Because God is love, and everything He does is in Love. So if He breaks and shatters things, then He does it in love.  Remember WHO God is. He is Love, He is Good, He is Holy.  We tend to focus on bits of him at a time.  In a sense, we have to focus on bits of him at a time, because our minds cannot wrap around His vastness.  But He is more than only “Love.”  I think that His Holiness is more important to consider here.  Because He is Holy, anything Unholy, in order to come into His presence, must either be destroyed OR itself made holy.  Holy is perfect. Holy is pure. In order for Him to take possession, the nations must become Holy.  In order to do that, he must demolish or make holy anything that is unholy.  It isn’t because He is egotistical. It is because He is the only appropriate response that is worthy.

Notice also How does the Son Receive these things?

“Ask of me and I will surely Give.”

Jesus must petition God.  Jesus, who is fully God, must ask-that’s submission- from the Father.  So we see a beautiful example of submission within the Godhead.  Keep this in mind when we come across passages saying to submit to one another, or wives submitting to husbands.  Submission, as much as the Rulers of the Nations would like you to believe, is not a bad thing.  Of course, it can be done wrongly, but submission in and of itself, is not bad.

Compare what James says regarding our own prayer lives, “You have not because you ask not.”

Look specifically at why James tells us that we don’t get the things we ask for.

You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (James 4:3-4)

We do not have because we ask God to help us fuel our sins.  Think about that- we have all done it.  But how do we know if we are doing it?  We will discuss that in the next post, as we go over point four.  We see that all of the people described in Psalm 2:1-3 (which is you and it is me) are going to get this iron rod/being smashed to bits treatment, but we have Point Four which I will post tomorrow.

Scripture quotations taken from the NASB.

Psalm 2 (Part 1 of 3): Depravity, Freedom, and Sin

11 Wednesday Aug 2010

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This is Part One of the sermon that I preached last Sunday.  I have the awesome opportunity to give a lesson each week, but rarely do I get to preach, so I am thankful for the opportunity.  In order to keep me on task (and not pick “whatever I want to talk about”, I am preaching through the book of Psalms.  I went over Psalm One back in March, so I should be completed with Psalms by about 2085.

This text is over Psalm Two.  Psalm Two is commonly referred to as a “Royal Psalm” because it refers to David’s reign, but it also referred to as a “Messianic Psalm” because it describe Jesus.  We will focus on the Messianic meaning OF the Psalm here.

The Psalm itself is very evangelistic.  It is essentially a description of humanity, what God does in response, and a warning-with instructions- of what to do.  I am going to use the following Four points in my discussion:

  • Humanity’s Condition
  • God’s Response
  • God’s Conversation
  • Human Submission

I will focus on two important things as I go through this, two things that I don’t think are dwelt upon nearly enough, but are of great importance in understanding our Christian walk.  I will dwell on those two things, depravity and discernment, as we come to them.

Let’s Examine the Text:

Psalm 2

(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!”
(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.”
(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.'”
(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!

Humanity’s Condition

So we begin, in Verses one through three, with Humanity’s Condition.  Notice that we start with a question.  Why are the nations in an uproar?  Why are the peoples devising a vain thing?  With these questions David, the Psalm writer, is building suspense.  We ask, “What are you talking about, David?  The nations are in an uproar?  What could possibly be so important that the nations are in an uproar?  What is this vain thing that the people are devising?  Okay, David, you have our attention.”

This isn’t some minor thought that the rulers and kings have been thinking about.  He gives us the answer to the questions Verse two: The kings take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the LORD and His Anointed, saying “Let us tear their fetters apart and cast their cords from us!”  This is why they are in an uproar.  So we have some important dialog that David uses to describe.  This is not a minor event, this is a large-scale coordinated effort to “tear their fetters apart.”

Notice first WHO is taking part in this:

  • The Kings of the Earth
  • The Rulers

Notice next WHAT they are doing:

  • The Kings are TAKING A STAND.  Not a passing thought.  They are “digging in”.  When we say people are “taking a stand,” they have no intention of backing down.
  • The Rulers are taking counsel together.  They are discussing among themselves, trying to determine how they can get away from Him.  “How are we going to go against the Lord and His anointed?”  It is concerning them, and they are seeking among one another.  The most brilliant minds coming together to get away from Him.

Now Notice what is NOT SAID, that is, what is already assumed by the reading of the text:

  • They are in fetters.  They are in bondage to the LORD and His Anointed.  They must flee from God and His Anointed.  Fetters are shackles;  they are put on prisoners so that they may not run very far, or at least, not very fast.

Now we know, of course, that when the LORD and His Anointed puts us in bondage- and for those of us in that bondage, it is wonderful.  It is much better to be a slave of Christ than a slave to sin, but these kings and rulers just don’t see it that way.  They don’t see their fetters and freedom, only bondage.  Freedom is not the ability to do “whatever you want.”  If that were the case, then we would be far more free than God, who cannot sin.  But we can, so we have more options than Him.  No, God is more free because he cannot sin.  But the kings and rulers and their people only see their side, and therefore, they must break away from Him.

But listen to their plan.  What is it they come up with?  They devise-they strategize, they coordinate, they from a brain-trust.  But it is a VAIN THING.  What is a vain thing?  Something that is worthless, something that is ineffectual.  So the things they are doing have nothing worthwhile in them.  They are in an uproar, make plans to go against the LORD, and their solution is described as WORTHLESS.  Whatever they come up with simply won’t work.  Consider this passage from 1 Corinthians:

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, “He is THE ONE WHO CATCHES THE WISE IN THEIR CRAFTINESS”;  (20)  and again, “THE LORD KNOWS THE REASONINGS of the wise, THAT THEY ARE USELESS.

I want to make this point VERY CLEAR.

It is important for us to note this.

It is often not taught, or if it is taught it is taught poorly.

We always assume this passage, verse 1-3, refers to SOMEONE ELSE.  But it does not.

It refers to you, and to me.

This is our DEFAULT condition.

This is the camp into which we fall, unless we are brought over to the other side.  When God is describing these things to David, he is referring to everyone not a part of the promise.  Now, you may argue, but I am part of the Promise.  I have been adopted as a son by the work of Christ, as Paul describes in Ephesians One.  I won’t argue that, but the point is that in order for you to be a part of the Promise, YOU HAD TO BE ADOPTED.  This is described brilliantly in Ephesians Two.

So we want to usurp God from His place, kick Him out of his place of authority and put ourselves in His place.

Every problem that you have is caused by you or someone around you trying to put you or themselves in the place of God.   Every sin we commit is against whom?  David cries out in Psalm 51, which is his repentance prayer after committing adultery with Bathsheba and murdering Uriah.  He says, “Against you, and you alone have I sinned!”  Why does he not say against You and Bathsheba?  Or You and Uriah?  Or You and Israel?  Or You and my wife?  Because sin is an offense against God.

We commit sin when we try to glorify ourselves and not God, when we try to worship anything that is not God.

As John Piper said, “If God directed our attention at anything other than Himself, it would be proof that he hated us.”  These things are sin because God ALONE is worthy.

Now, we don’t literally say, “Let us tear their fetters from us…”  No, sin is far more deceptive than that.  But we will do things for our own glory, to serve our own purposes.  John calls it “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” (1 Jo 1:16).  Paul calls it “living in the passions  of the flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind.” (Eph 2:3)

But we have mankind against God, and the Vanity of Men’s plans.  That brings us to our second point, which I will post tomorrow.

Scripture quotations taken from the NASB.

Spurgeon

08 Sunday Aug 2010

Posted by in Books, Reading Classics Together

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I have been reading through Surgeon: A New Biography by Arnold Dallimore with the gang over at challies.com.  (And as last time, I have fallen behind!) I have heard many great things said about the man, but have read relatively little apart from a quote here or there (or Pyromaniacs’ weekly dose of Spurgeon.)  So to sit and read what makes him the “Prince of Preachers” is helpful and inspiring.

Spurgeon came from a line of Pastors, and so learned mightily from just having been around when people would ask his father or grandfather (whom he lived with for some time) theological questions or debate them on different areas of theology. I think there is a lesson for me to learn in this, as I raise my children.  I need to include them.  We have lost so much when it comes to raising our children. We look to others far too often to do things for us.  We just assume that if we send them in the direction of a Sunday school class and a nice public education and college that they will be perfectly all right.  But that isn’t the way God describes how it should be done.  Fathers are responsible for the raising of their children. Because let’s face it, if we send our kids off to school and Sunday School and Vacation Bible School and Youth group they will learn. But learn what? If we don’t deliberately teach them to be responsible then we will create (have created, actually) a wonderful society of adults who don’t know how to do anything but play.

But back to Spurgeon.

I may be the only Baptist who had never actually heard the story of his conversion.  I’d heard many references to it, and knew some vague references (many which were wrong), so to read it was really a blessing. Hearing anyone’s testimony of how they became saved is a worthy way of passing time.  A couple of things struck me about his story. Firstly, it was his spiritual condition leading up to it.  We so often do not see struggle and agony over sin.  By all outward appearances we would, by the standards of most modern American churches, he looked saved. We would have chalked him up as being a believer and moved on with our lives.  But he wasn’t saved yet.

The second thing that amazes me is that once this happened just how young he was.  He had grown up learning of theology, of the things of God. He learned to read by reading through likes John Bunyan and John Owens. When he was three he would look through the pages of Pilgrim’s Progress examine the illustrations in the same way I may have looked through my Casper comics or my own child would have watched Dora the Explorer. (So we can teach them to yell random things in Spanish!) Once he was saved, his theology was sound and in place. There was no groping in the dark as I did for a decade before coming to saving belief. Not only that, he had a gift for speaking that was far beyond expectation.

So far I’ve made it through chapter 8- his childhood and early career, from being the “boy preacher” to being the forefront figure in a great revival in London.  I’m looking forward to seeing how he continued to affect the lives of those around him.