A Reign Of Peace In The Turmoil

Thank you for your singing. If you would open up your Bibles to Psalm chapter 2, please. Psalm chapter 2 will also be in Luke chapter 1 and 2. Psalm chapter 2. But 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'll 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.

So 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. But blessed are all those who take refuge in him.

God in heaven, thank you for this time. Thank you for this Advent season. and thank you for your grace that's found in Jesus Christ. We know, Lord, that he is multifaceted in many ways. Lord, his ministry comes down to us. He is a merciful God who shepherds us. His rod or his staff gives us comfort.

As we, the sheep of his pasture, we look to him to guide us and defeat us. And we know, Lord, that he vanquishes our sin within us in his kindness. We're also thankful, Lord, that he will defeat all of our enemies, both his and ours, that one day righteousness will dwell completely and all sin will be dealt with, not only in his church but also in the world.

And so we're thankful to celebrate those things this Advent season as we look upon him entering this earth, that he came to be a king and he is a king. He came to rule and he does rule. So I pray God that we would hear the words of our king this morning and that it would have its way in our hearts so that we'd be the people that kiss the sun and we'd be the people that find refuge in the sun so that we do not perish in the way.

Thank you for being so faithful and kind and gracious to us undeserving people. We praise you this morning in Jesus name. Amen. Following after World War II there was a great tumultuous event called the Cold War in which there was the east and the west were at conflict with one another. And at the beginning of it, in the 1950s, there was the start of what was called the space race, or space to get out, or race to get out into space, in which the Russians had the upper hand at the beginning, in which they sent out Sputnik.

And that was the satellite, the first satellite ever to orbit, to go into orbit around Earth. And Sputnik was able to deliver a message from space, but it was transmitted by radio beeps. It was conveyed in radio beeps. Now, America wanted to get into the race themselves and they wanted to one-up the Russians for being a little late out into space. And so they quickly got together a craft that could be sent out into space in orbit space as well and they wanted to deliver a message as well but they didn't want to do it in radio beeps because that's lame, right?

They wanted to do it with an actual audio message. And so President Eisenhower recorded an audio message. They strapped it onto this thing that could go out into space, a very early satellite. And this is the message that he gave to everyone in December during the Christmas season of 1958. He said, through the marvels of scientific advance, my voice is coming to you from a satellite circling in outer space.

My message is a simple one. Through this unique means, I convey to you and all mankind America's wish for peace on earth and goodwill to men everywhere. Now this is when the Cold War was really heating up. So the idea of peace on earth was quite a far-fetched idea. But nevertheless, America, President Eisenhower recorded this desire and they sent it off in this satellite orbiting earth for the whole world to hear.

Now, this message of peace I find to be kind of ironic. Because in their haste, America didn't want to wait to make an actual satellite to get out there. They did the quickest thing they could do. They used the thing that they could use quickest to get out there so they could hurry up and get the satellite out into space so it's not too long after Sputnik.

And what they used was a rocket that was meant to hold a nuclear bomb. And so I find that to be ironic, isn't it? It's a message of peace, and it's being carried by a rocket meant for nuclear warfare. I think it's an ironic display of how everyone wants peace. Russia and America wants peace. Everyone wants peace, but we want it on our own terms.

That's the way peace operates. That's the kind of peace that we want. And even on an individual level, we operate the same way, don't we? We say, I remember in high school hearing all the time, and celebrities, they act like they're high schoolers, so you hear them all the time say, no drama, I don't want drama, right? We don't like drama, we like peace.

But we want peace on our own terms If we in an argument or there contention with another brother and sister in Christ or a spouse we want peace but we want it on our terms We want it on our terms And the question I want to ask, does God work this way? Does God want peace and does he want it on his own terms? And the answer is a resounding yes, exactly what he wants.

God wants peace and he wants it on his own terms. God works this way, surely. His will is to bring peace to a situation that is engulfed in turmoil due to our rebellion, but his peace most specifically means destroying our self-rebellion. So God operates in the same way, too. He wants peace just as we want peace, but he wants it on his terms, just like in our rebellion, we want it on our terms.

I can say emphatically. I can say absolutely emphatically. If you want peace right now in your homes, in your marriage, in your friendships, the answer is always not to get your own way, as we most naturally want to, but it's to get God's way, right? And that's a nice bumper sticker Christian statement, right? But it has to be true. If we truly want peace, it has to be God's way.

And it should be our delight to apply God's peace or God's way to every area of our life. But nevertheless, God certainly works this way. God wants peace, and he wants it on his own terms. Last week, we spoke on turmoil. And we broke it down into, if you remember, three layers, remember? And the first layer of turmoil in Psalm 2 is humans.

Remember, they're raging, they're plotting in Psalm 2. They're raging, they're plotting against God and his anointed, if you remember. Remember, we talked about the second layer, though. Who's behind that? And we talked about Satan. Satan is behind the turmoil of humans that they do, even when they don't even quite know that.

And then the third layer is God is over it all for the sake of his son and his kingdom. We saw how God is sovereign and used in the turmoil brought by the first two layers to bring about the kingdom of his son. Now, today we're going to see how Jesus' kingdom is of peace. It truly is. It is one of peace. We'll see that in Luke 1 and 2. but also how this peace is brought on his terms, not on our own terms.

And we'll see that in Psalm 2. And this is really needed to know. Because if you do any kind of evangelism, if you do any kind of trying to tell someone about who God is and what he's doing, again, they'll want that peace that you offer in the gospel. But they'll say they want it on their own terms. They don't recognize that there is a need for repentance and a turn away from the sin so that it's on God's terms.

So it's very important for us to solidify, what is God looking for in the kingdom with the son? What is he doing? And that is to promote peace, for the son to have peace. But of course it needs to be on his terms and not on our own terms. You understand that? If God were to allow a kingdom for his son to where the rebels would get their, it would be on their terms, God would be a very most unjust God.

He'd be a God who is very unjust. He'd be a God who, if he would allow such a thing, he'd be the most unloving and be a very unjust kingdom. No, for it to be a just kingdom, for it to be a righteous kingdom, it must be peace on the terms that God has ordained. This is needed to be understood in our own selves. Like Charlie Brown, we should be on the search for the meaning of Christmas. and we'll see how it's peace from the king on his own terms.

So if you look in Luke 1, we start in verse 26. If you want to flip over there. We'll see the nature of what Jesus is doing is one of peace. Before we get to Luke 2, I want to take a quick second in Luke 1, 26 through 33 to see how when Gabriel goes to Mary and tells her she's going to have a son, we can hear, really, some of the words drip off of what we already heard from Psalm 2 about this kingdom that is coming, that God is establishing.

And we see in verse 26, In the sixth month of Luke 1, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, Greetings, O favored one. The Lord is with you. But she was greatly troubled at the saying and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.

And the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever.

And of his kingdom there will be no end. You see those last few verses, those words are dripping with where we left off last week in Psalm 2. Remember the nations are raging. They're plotting against God. And God laughs because he will accomplish his desire, which is what? In Psalm 2, 6, if you remember, as for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.

And so we see here a burst of action, divine action, after hundreds of years of silence. And now we can see that this is coming into full view, this great prophecy or this great promise that, as for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. And here we see Jesus is the great fulfillment of this promise that's coming about. This is David's kingdom.

This is the throne of his father, David. And he'll reign over the house of Jacob forever on that holy hill. Now if we look at Luke 1 we can see now that part of this rule of Jesus is God ability to handle his enemies on his own terms God can handle his enemies on his own terms God is a God of peace but it peace on his own terms and part of that means that you need to destroy your enemies.

And so we see that in Luke 1, 46. And Mary said, and you remember this great song of Mary, and Mary says, my soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, For he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed. For he who is mighty has done great things for me. And holy is his name.

And verse 50. And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate. He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever. And so we can see here Mary talking about how this God is a God who remembers his covenant, remembers his people, but in so doing he brings down people who are mighty, right? This is God who has peace on his own terms. We can see Zechariah, if we had time to go there, we can see he talks about the peace of this kingdom too in light of the fact that God brings down his enemies as well.

But I want to focus the last few minutes as we're in Luke. I want to go to Luke 2 with the story of the angels going to the shepherds. So we can see in Luke 2, verse 8, And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was the angel of a multitude of the heavenly post praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those whom he has pleased.

So when the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Let us go over to Bethlehem and see the thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us. And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.

Now it's really interesting, and this kind of goes to what we were saying last week, that God, you know, you have the raging of the enemy, you have the raging of the world, you have their rage, you have their plotting, and God laughs at them. And you can see that if, you know, typically when a king has arrived and they are declared to be king, you want it to be fantastic. You want it to be wonderful.

You want the visuals to be awesome so that it further solidifies that this guy is really king. You know, when a king is, what's the word, coronated, I think is the proper word, you want it to be a dazzling display, right? You want there to be gold over your, you want there to be riches. You want it to be dazzling. You want all the great people, all the greatest states to be there, right, princes and everything to be there to display this king becoming king in his own right, to have that authority.

What I find amazing is that when Jesus is announced to be king, he's announced to be king by shepherds, lowly shepherds. These are people that are poor, that don't have much money. It wouldn't be people that if you really wanted to defend that this is the king of Israel, you wouldn't want to use shepherds. There's a certain sense where God laughs at his enemies, that he's not worried about their raging, not worried about their plotting, but rather he is very calm and collected as he has shepherds go and declare what they heard from the angels, that this is the king, that there is peace going to be offered to the world.

And we know this baby was born in a cave, not in a palace, right? We know that this is God that simply is laughing at the enemy's advances by showing this king of the universe displayed in such a lowly way. And the question that I have, though, moving forward, especially as we look at Psalm 2, It's been 2,000 years since that great declaration from the angels, right?

You know, peace on earth, goodwill for those who he's well pleased with. And you can imagine in your mind, you would imagine that this Messiah would bring all sorts of peace overarching, right? And it's been 2,000 years and yet we still live in a world that's full of turmoil. So what do we do with that, right? What do we do to the fact that Jesus has been reigning now, so to speak, for 2,000 years, and yet we still are full of turmoil this week alone, right?

We hear the shooting in Oxford High School. This is a high school that was not far north from me at all. In fact, our schools were somewhat rivals. Well, we'd be more rivals if our school would ever win a football game, but we played each other all the time. I know people went there and everything. It can be hard for us to understand that if this is a Jesus who is supposed to have peace on earth, goodwill to men and everything, and yet we have so much turmoil 2,000 years later.

In fact, we can even argue that perhaps it hasn't even gotten better. Was that just wishful thinking by God with what was going on with Jesus as a babe? When we think about turmoil in our own homes, some of you guys are coming into church this morning and there was turmoil in your home when you left. And you guys got to put on a nice face as you come here.

That's awful. That doesn't feel good for ourselves to have to come in and put on a face and fake and act like there's not turmoil within my own homes. Yeah, I'm supposed to read that Jesus has brought peace 2,000 years ago? Where's that peace at? And so it can be something that we really got to solidify in our hearts each Christmas time as we talk about peace, the kingdom of peace that Christ has supposedly have brought, but yet we see so much turmoil.

Where does that come from, right? Especially when we struggling with peace within our own homes What peace are we even talking about here it reminds me of that great hymn that I love listening to each year I heard the bells on Christmas Day You remember the words And in despair I bowed my head There is no peace on earth, I said. For hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, goodwill to men.

It's the middle of the Civil War. And there wasn't much peace going on then. But yet this baby Jesus was supposed to bring so much peace. It mocks the song because there's so much turmoil. Is peace really something that Jesus has brought? I think Psalm 2 can really help us with that answer.

I think it can really help us make sense of this. The angelic declaration was not just God's best intentions, but 2,000 years ago it shows that he didn't just fall short of the mark. Christ will defeat his enemies and bring total peace in the end. But first he uses the raging and the plotting to bring peace within his people first. And that's kind of where we're going.

I want to say that again. Christ will ultimately bring an end to all the turmoil, to all the sin. You know that sin is what causes the turmoil. But first, he's using the turmoil to bring peace within his church first. You see what I'm saying there? That he wants to use the turmoil to bring peace to his church first, and after that is complete, after his church has been sanctified, then he will bring peace across the whole world with his judgment.

But one must come before the other. And so in a way, your sanctification is a guarantee of the enemy's imminent downfall. You want to know how we can know that Jesus truly will bring peace? It's because he's starting with this church. He's starting with this church. He's bringing sin to an end within his church first.

And we know that that is a down payment, that one day he'll make an end of all sin across all the world once he is finished with his church. Indeed, he uses the turmoil of the world to further sanctify his church in his own time. And once he's done doing that, then he will put an end to his enemies because he's done using them. And that's kind of the direction I want to head to, and I want to label it before we get there.

And so, going back to Psalm 2 then, we'll spend the next several minutes there. And remember, we ended in verse 6. psalm 2 verse 6 as for me i've set my king on zion my holy hill this is in direct response to the plotting the raging of the world remembering it was in vain remember they're doing their plotting and they're raging in vain um and we talk about the layers right and we already we already referred to that and after god gets done laughing at their plotting at the raging in vain after he gets done uh mocking them he then says now let me tell you what's actually going to happen not your rebellion not what you're trying to do but this is what's actually happening whether or not you like it and you're actually contributing to it he says as for me this is what i'm doing and it's not in vain i am establishing my king on zion i have set my king on zion my holy hill you see that's what god is doing in history what he's doing now despite the fact that people are raging and plotting against him he laughs at their trial he laughs at what they're trying to do and He says, I'm going to use you in order to actually further my purpose. And so in verse 7, we can get this king that he says I've set up.

All of a sudden, he starts speaking. And he says in verse 7 of Psalm 2, I will tell of the decree. The Lord said to me, you are my son. Today I have begotten you. So again, this is the king. God says, I am establishing my king on my holy hill.

And now all of a sudden, we hear the words of this king, this anointed one. He says, I will tell the decree, the Lord or Yahweh, the Father said to me, you are my son to get today I begotten you. Now, again, the immediate context of this, right? So this always, as we said last week, we see these Old Testament verses, they always have an immediate context.

The people who initially heard that would always, always had something to bear on their life at that moment. But then there's always a far reaching context of the great Messiah, of the great Jesus Christ to come. And the great immediate context is God has produced a king for Israel. And so when Israel had a king, King David, Solomon, or anyone that came after them, it was God who established that king, not that king has established itself.

And that's really important. Because the idea is that the king is not the law. God is the law. God is the one who established the king. And that's a very important advancement in culture, by the way. We don't have time to get into it.

But the idea that the king is not the law, but God is king over the king. He is the law. And the point being is that any time there is a king of Israel, it's because he was begotten by God. God had created that king, right? And so it had very important immediate context there. And these kings gained their power by God, not by man.

But the ultimate fulfillment here, and one that we'll focus most of our time on, is the father establishing the throne of Messiah. And we talked about how this is not just a little nuance of the Bible, but the whole scripture is about God the Father establishing the throne of the Son. That's what all the scripture is about, Old Testament, New Testament.

It's all about the Messiah and his throne being established. The ultimate fulfillment is the Father establishing the throne of Messiah. And really, so we can see, the ultimate role of the monarchy in Israel was to paint the picture of the great king that would come. A lot of people get that mixed up, thinking that there's still some importance to Israel outside of Christ even today.

But what do they mean by decree? If we see the ultimate fulfillment of Christ, this one who has been anointed by God the Father, he says, I will tell of the decree. Decree is an authoritative law or command. You hear a decree for something, it's someone who has authority, and he's decreeing something, and people must now listen to this decree. and I think this is really important because there's a contrast right the world is raging and plotting in vain they want all these things they want all these things they want to rebel and God laughs at them and says you know and holds them in derision and he says this is the decree this is what's truly the decree This is what's actually going to happen.

This is truth. This is the decree. Now the question we can ask before we get to it is when was this decree made? Now we know in Israel, for their actual kings, the decree was made when the king became king, right? That was the decree. But when was it made for Jesus Christ?

When was it made for the eternal Son of God? Now there's all sorts of different understandings of when it could be. at the resurrection. If you want to listen, Romans 1, 1 through 4. At the very beginning of the letter, Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning his son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the son of God, what?

In power. So there's this idea that there it is, there's that decree coming to pass, declared to be the son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead so we can see that perhaps he was the decree was made at his resurrection his accomplishment but also we know in the baptism and the transfiguration of jesus what does god say the father say about his son this is my beloved son whom i'm well pleased with right so the idea is maybe the decree about his son to have a kingdom was there personally i have no problem placing the decree jesus saying I've heard this decree. This is the decree that he has given me this kingdom.

I have no problem placing this decree in eternity past. That in eternity past, there is this agreement between the son and the father, that the father would give the son a people and the son would reign in the kingdom. And so everything that happens in time and place after that and on earth is all to do with that eternal decree or that covenant made between the father and the son.

Everything that happens now on earth is because of this agreement that the father and son had together in eternity pass. That's the purpose for everything that's ever happened, is for the Father to give the Son a kingdom based off of that decree or that covenant, that eternal covenant made. Another verse we could look to is Psalm 110.1. The Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.

It's as if we're peering into a conversation of the divine trinity, right? That's going on. This is what the divine trinity is doing, right? And we hear that this is where the decree is coming forth from, from eternity past. But nevertheless, this is the decree. No matter when it happens, this is what God the Father is doing.

And this is what the Son has said the Father has promised him, this kingdom, right? This is what's going on. So everything that's happened is in light of this great decree. He says again in Psalm 2 verse 7, I will tell the decree, the Lord said to me, you are my son, today I have begotten you. And what will the Father give to the son. We'll look at verse 8.

Ask of me and I'll make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. So again, he says, ask of me. The son is talking. He's saying, the father said this to me. I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. This is what the father has promised to give to the son.

Heritage is like an inheritance. That's what heritage, I'll give you, I'll make a nation's your heritage. This will be your inheritance is what the father is saying. Your inheritance as my son will be the nations. And possession means to take ownership. The father gives his son something that is the world.

Now, our mind should go to who created everything? The son. Jesus Christ created everything. But what happened with sin and the rebellion? What happened to that world that the son had created? Well, it was given, so to speak, to the devil.

And we know that the devil is the prince of the power the heir, the one who is over all the actions of the rebellion of the world. And so the idea here is that the father creates through the son, the father gives the world to Satan as he enticed man to sin so that by the father, so that the father can then give the world to the son. And how does the, what does the son do?

The father has given this world back to the son and how does the son take it. What does he do with it? Well, he takes it by conquest. The Father creates the world through the Son. The Father gives the world to Satan because of sin, and the Son gives it as inheritance. He receives it as inheritance by his conquest over those sins.

By the Son reversing all that Satan has done in sin. Satan brought turmoil so that the Son could come and bring peace. So, When we want to sing, and in despair I bowed my head, there is no peace on earth, I said. For hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, goodwill to men. We understand that the turmoil we see there is all a plan of God so that the Son could then conquest everything by destroying that sin and taking back the world by his conquest.

We got to see it's ultimately all for the glory of the Son to receive the kingdom from the Father only as a conquering hero. And so we can see if we want to call it in a couple layers here, to keep on going with layers. How does the son accomplish this reconquest, so to speak, of the world? The first layer of how he does it is destroying the rebellion from without.

This is all the purpose of what's going on, is that the son creates, Satan takes, so to speak, by sending everyone into rebellion with sin, and then the son then takes again by conquest of sin. So how does he conquest? How does he take the sin? How does he destroy the rebellion? Well, we see in verse nine of Psalm two, you shall break them. You shall break them, he's told, with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

So again, he says, you shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. It's very interesting because a rod, that's like a shepherd's rod, right? And we can see our Jesus is a shepherd. He has a shepherd. He's a shepherd and he has a rod. And that rod is for comfort for his sheep.

But that rod is also for judgment It also to hit away the wolves It very amazing how that shepherd can be used in two very different ways And I think what going on here is it talking about this the way he destroys sin the way he ends the rebellion. It's talking about first, it's talking about the world here. And he's saying this rod, in many other verses we see that it's actually a comforting thing for his sheep.

It's actually used as a rod to dash his enemy to pieces, to end the rebellion that Satan has brought, to dash it to pieces with the rod of iron. and he dashes it so completely it's like a potter's vessel that gets smashed and destroyed in all tiny bits and pieces you see this is what is going on in the world is that although sin has brought everything into rebellion the whole purpose of what the father is doing with that it's not like he's like oops i wish that wouldn't have happened he allows it so that he could then give it back to his son but his son receives it by vanquishing sin by vanquishing his enemies by getting the glory of being a conquering hero it's all for the glory of his son and this pack or this agreement before time began that i will give you a kingdom and you will be the hero of that kingdom you'll be the king of that kingdom and we can see here in verse 9 it's one of being a complete what war hero and that can kind of hurt our christian ears because as we see it as being the sheep of his pasture we see jesus is very much kind and gentle and full of mercy and grace but he is not like that for his enemies and there's gonna be a day that's coming in which he's going to shatter them and that's a very real thing that we must hold on to all of what Jesus is and our culture likes to tell us hold on to one part of Jesus that gentle Jesus the hippie Jesus is always smiling only hold on to that one but you know forget about the other fact that he has a rod of iron and he's going to use it to smash his enemies especially in this this Christmas season we can see baby Jesus and we can see he's a merciful Jesus to come the son of God taken on flesh and being a babe is should amaze us but we got to hold on we got to make sure that we have everything balanced this baby is one day he's going to grow up he's going to die for his sheep and one day he's going to return he's going to destroy his enemies with a rod of iron right this is a well-balanced understanding of who Jesus is and what he's doing and coming as a babe and that is to destroy sin. We see here, and we'll get to how he destroys sin from within, but from without, the world without the non-elect, he's going to destroy them with a rod of iron. And we can see this terminology used, you shall break them with a rod of iron, dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel.

In Revelation, we see this used three times. The Apostle John likes to use this. I just want to look at a couple places to see how this is used as judgment. If you look at Revelation 2.25, remember he's writing the letters to all the churches. Thyatira is one of them. And he says in Revelation 2.25, Only hold fast what you have until I come, Jesus says.

The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations. and he will rule them with a rod of iron as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father, and I'll give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. You can see, he says, if you just wait on, if you hold on longer, you will then get to reap the rewards of being able to dash your enemies to pieces because we'll be doing it with Jesus.

If you look there, he says, I know you're going through turmoil, I know you're going through hard times, but he who works who keeps my works until the end to him I will give authority over the nations I think he's talking about the judgment to come now does that mean that we'll be the one judging people no but we'll be with Jesus as he exhibits as he does that judgment to the nations and there's another part of revelation 12 where he mentions that we're going to skip that but we're going to go to revelation 19 where we see John use that same terminology and we see the judgment and we see how we are there with him behind him revelation 19 11 through 16 John says, White and pure were following him on the white horses. I believe that's the church right there. And 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 his fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. So you imagine these people, this church at this time, that was suffering the persecutions of Rome, of the Jews, and we can see that they found peace in the fact that one day we will take part with Jesus as he judges our enemies.

As he gets rid of sin, unrighteousness, with the rod of iron, as he judges it, we will take witness of that and it will be glorious to us. The only way that's true is if we hate sin as much as Jesus does. that we cannot wait for Jesus to get rid of it externally. I also think that this judgment, a rod of iron, and Jesus being a judge, we see that currently as well.

It's not just something for the end. But if you want to listen to me or flip there, Matthew 21, 42 through 44. Jesus said to them, and he's talking to the religious leaders here, have you never read in the scriptures, in Matthew 21, 42, the stone that the builders that Israel the Jewish leaders rejected has become the cornerstone that Jesus This was the Lord doing and is marvelous in our eyes Therefore I tell you the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces.

And when it falls on anyone, it will crush him. So when they fall on it, they'll be broken. If it falls on anyone, they'll be broken. It'll be judgment for those who reject this stone. So again, there's this idea that Jesus is coming as king. He has came as king to get rid of sin externally.

Those who do not obey him, those who do not bow down to him, he comes to get rid of that. But there's a second layer in which he's getting rid of sin within his church, the rebellion within his church. He'll one day get rid of the rebellion outside, and he'll one day get rid of, or he does get rid of the rebellion inside his church. And we'll see that more in detail next week. but just as a precursor because I don't want to end on just simply God judging the world without then talking about how God also judges our sin.

We don't want to be like those churches where we love talking about the wickedness of the world and we say how bad they are and everything but we never talk about the wickedness that's found within. And so I want to finish just by looking to something that we'll focus more next week but Psalm 2.12, kiss the son. Psalm 2.12, 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. You see what Psalm 2 is doing is that Jesus is coming to end the rebellion on the exterior. Those who do not bow down to him, he's going to one day in the future, even now in a certain sense, judge them and end them with a rod of iron. But you see Psalm 2 is also saying that there's another way. Thank God there is.

And that's one in which instead of being judged by this Jesus, we can actually find refuge in this Jesus by kissing him, by bowing down to him, by paying homage to him, by him being our king even today, by seeing his authority as king even today. So instead of plotting and being angry and working against this king, instead we kiss and we bow down to this king. And in so doing, we find refuge for him so that when judgment does come, we are not found among those who are shattered like a potter's vessel.

Instead, we are those who have taken refuge in this same king, and so we are safe from his judgments. You see that God, or Jesus Christ, came to deal with the rebellion problem. Baby Jesus came to deal with the rebellion problem. His kingship has everything to do with dealing with sin and dealing with it completely, either through judgment or through grace.

But he will deal with it. That's the whole nature of his kingdom. This is the whole nature of his inheritance from the Father. as his possession, that his righteousness would dwell completely, and he would judge and get rid of unrighteousness. And I think this is what Paul is getting at in 2 Corinthians 10, 3 through 6. Remember, Paul says, for though we walk in the flesh, we're not waging war according to the flesh.

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. That means we are a church that is militant. That doesn't mean we take out swords and we start hacking people apart, like the Muslims and everything, the extremists. But we are a people in which we are militant, but we're militant not in a physical way. We're militant in a spiritual way.

That is, we are militant against sin, and we do everything we can to work against it to destroy it to eradicate it he says again verse 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds we destroy arguments and every lofty opinions raised against the knowledge of god and take every thought captive to obey christ you see how militant we are you know how militant it is to take every thought of yours captive to obey King Jesus. You realize that we sin often and we need to take every thought captive to obey Christ. Every thought you have, you take as a prisoner to the Lord to see, is this keeping with his kingdom?

If not, may it be dashed to pieces. You see how Jesus is dealing with sin even today in his church. And so he uses, and I think this is what Paul is saying, is that the philosophies and the garbage and the filth of the world when it comes in through the bride of christ's brains and hearts and desires what does jesus do with that he says that's mine and we're getting rid of that and he destroys it so you see how jesus is using the filth of the world to go through the church and then for you to have the honor and glory to then take that to Jesus Christ and say, destroy it, Jesus.

So for those who do that today, who find refuge in Jesus today, they will seek and they will have eternal life. But for those who refuse to bow the knee to Jesus and those who refuse to take every thought captive to Christ, Jesus will destroy your sin, but it will be an eternal damnation. The whole point of what Jesus is doing is to destroy sin and he shall do it.

But it's how he does it is what matters for us, right? We want him to do it today. We want him to do it right now. We want him to have victory today over us so that we can find refuge in him and kiss him so that we do not face this terrible judgment in the end. So everyone wants peace but sadly in our sin we want it on our own terms. God works this way.

He wants peace and he wants it on his term. And the kingdom he has given to his son by decree works this way too. The turmoil that we see in the world system today is found even in you. It's there. We can't help it. We're in the world.

But it's that way on purpose. He could have just sucked us right up whenever we became saved He keeps us in the world so that we are of the world but not we in the world but not of the world right The seed of rebellion is found in everyone after Adam Jesus receives glory and ending it in you. And after his church has been fully sanctified, he then will end the sin in all the world, his enemies.

And this peace will reign forever. So if you are a Christian, that means you do not seek peace by getting your own way. You do not seek peace by getting your own way. Because that is antithetical to the kingdom that Christ has set up. It's peace according to his way. But rather you seek that Jesus gets his own way in everything.

And that includes conquering sin wherever it is found. And it is elect now in grace in the world. It's at judgment. And in this way peace does reign from Christ despite the turmoil of the world. And so if we go back to the, I heard the bells on Christmas Day. In despair I bowed my head.

There is no peace on earth, I said, for hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, goodwill to men. But then peeled the bells more loud and deep. God is not dead, nor does he sleep. For Christ is here, his spirit near, brings peace on earth, goodwill to men. When men repent and turn from sin, the prince of peace then enters in, and grace imparts within the hearts his peace on earth, goodwill to men.

Oh, souls, amid earth's busy strife, the word of God is light and life. Oh, hear his voice, make him your choice. Hail peace on earth, goodwill to men. Then happy singing on your way. Your world will change from night to day. Your heart will feel the message real of peace on earth, goodwill to men.

So the last 2,000 years, the world has still acted filthy. But the church has acted more sanctified. I believe this is what God is doing in history. The world acts filthy, and they get worse, and the barking gets louder. But the church grows and grows in sanctification, grows in holiness and doctrine and understanding. I think this is what Jesus is doing, that he's ending sin, but first he starts with his own church.

And he does it in grace and kindness. and so I think there has been a kingdom of peace in the midst of this great turmoil and so it's got to be said as we leave here today as we participate in the table can it be said that your life is defined by this peace in the midst of great turmoil can you say that your life is a life of peace that Christ has brought and this peace is not that you feel good about your life and everything is going peachy clean this peace is that I am working to bring every thought captive to our sovereign Lord. Is this your desire? Is this your strong desire within your heart to bring every thought captive to Christ now so that I don't face judgment later, right?

This is the whole promise of the new covenant, by the way, that Jesus would take your heart, transform it, make it light, and make it full of flesh so that it's feeling, so that you can feel the righteousness of Christ, that you know it, and that you can work and strive towards his perfection, not by your own power, but the power that he provides you. This is the whole working of the kingdom of Christ, that he would end sin in you today through justification, right? When you look upon Jesus and repent of your sins and you place your trust in him so that he justifies you, makes you righteous, but then he doesn't stop there, but he grows you in righteousness.

He grows you more in love with him. So that sin over and over again finds itself vanquished in your life. Is that the kind of peace that defines your life? Or are you just simply staying in these certain sins that you allow? The worst thing, if there's a sin right now that you're in your head, you're thinking of in this moment that you know continues to plague you, know that this is exactly what Jesus is not doing in the kingdom.

What Jesus is doing in the kingdom is vanquishing that sin. And so you don't say, well, I just got to get stronger. No, you say, King Jesus, take over. Vanquish this sin. Destroy it for me so I can find refuge in you. Do not flirt with sin.

Do not say it's okay, but rather bring it to the King of peace who will bring peace in your lives. This is the great promise that our Lord has given us. This is our refuge. This is us kissing the sun. So I implore all of you to do it today. And so we should be like Charlie Brown.

We should be looking all around, what is the meaning of Christmas, right? And what I want to tell Charlie Brown, it is good. Yeah, you read the Christmas story for sure. And know that the meaning of Christmas is for you to repent of your sins and look upon King Jesus who takes your sins, forgives them, so that you don't face his final judgment in the end.

Instead, we have eternal life today. That is the meaning of Christmas. He came to vanquish sins. Praise be to God. He does it in you today by his grace. What a good God we have.

Let us praise him for that today. Praise him in all that we do in Christmas time. And I look forward to talking more about that, kissing the son next week. Let us pray. God in heaven, thank you so much for the son and all that he does. Lord, he hates sin, just like you hate sin.

Sin is rebellion, and there's great turmoil because of it. Lord, we shouldn't separate the turmoil of the world from the sin that is because of that turmoil. And so let us know that you hate sin because it is not you. And so I pray, God, that we'd be the people in which, again, we kiss the Son. We see that there's a great judgment coming for those who fail to do so.

And so let us take refuge in the Son so that we don't face his judgment, rather we only receive his kindness. Because we know that his whole work in this kingdom, this decree, this kingdom given by you, Father, so that he can give righteousness to his people and then work in those people to vanquish every sin of theirs, taking every thought captive to Christ. Lord in heaven, how often, we know this is reality, but how often we see ourselves failing.

Lord in heaven, in that it's so great that we still have to do it. God, we still have a Savior who is kind to us that we can go to even in this moment and say, Jesus, I screwed up again. Oh, that you would come and comfort me in my screw-up and you would then empower me in the future to no longer live in that rebellion, but rather that you would vanquish it even today.

I pray that as we celebrate the table that that would be in our forethought, that this is what Jesus has done, his death and resurrection was to end the sin in us. And so may we utilize that power so that that sin can be completely ended in us and through progressive sanctification. Thank you for your grace and your mercies. We praise you for that. In Jesus' name, amen.