Be Wise, Be Warned, Be Blessed

Let's take our Bibles now this morning and let's turn to Psalm 2, the second psalm. You follow as I read this psalm. 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.

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 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. Let's pray. Father, would You open up Your Word again to us, this living Word that is living and active and can penetrate to the most impenetrable parts of our being. Would you please help us to see Christ our Lord? Would you please help us now as we look into this so that we will have a better understanding of our situation and of the one that you sent, our Messiah, the Lord Jesus.

So now open our eyes. Help us. We pray this in the name of Christ our King. Amen. So I walk into the bank the other day, and one of the bank tellers says to me, so are you ready for Christmas Of course my answer always is no I don get anything done until Christmas Eve Nevertheless what embedded in that question is this You're ready for Christmas if you have all your Christmas shopping done, right?

If you've bought all the things that you've been telling your kids all year long that possessions don't make you happy and then flood them with possessions like they've never seen. I'm too hard on you. I'm sorry. are we ready for Christmas what does that mean right why do people all over the world celebrate the birth of a baby in a barn I mean frankly that's what it boils down to because they never get past that they don't get past the part they don't get past that to the parts where Jesus says if you're going to be my disciple you have to deny yourself.

You have to deny everything that you are in order to follow me. They don't seem to get to the part where Jesus hangs in open shame on a cross as a criminal. But He's not a criminal. He's a Savior that's come to save people from their sin. People don't seem to get that. And then there's that final thing.

There's the stable, there's the life, there's the cross, and then there's the crown. Jesus rules and reigns forever. And all who have opposed him will find his judgment. And all who have run to him for rescue will find relief. Christmas, that's what Psalm 2 is about, you remember? Psalm 2 is about this promised king.

And today we come to the fourth and final scene of Messiah's dramatic revelation. Let's review very quickly. You remember scene one, verses one through three. The curtain opens on a grand army made of rebels from every nation, motivated by a common hatred of the rule of God and his Messiah. You hear it all the time, don't you? Why can't we do this all year round?

Why can't there be peace all the time? Why can we treat people like this all 12 months of the year Because the basic problem is you part of a rebel army that hates what God says will bring peace right you're part of this rebel army that's the first scene the scene two opens on our omnipotent God in heaven laughing laughing at this vain rebellion to throw off the rule of God and his king because he's already installed his king. His king is ruling.

In scene 3, verses 7-9, Messiah speaks from the throne. He now starts talking, showing that the Lord God has conferred all authority and all power on him. And now finally, the curtain opens on the fourth act and you find yourself once more in the throne room of Messiah in verses 10 through 12. Here you are greeted by the poet, David. He will be a spokesman, and he will serve as a guide to the judgment hall of Messiah.

As he takes you toward the throne of the king, he will offer you some sound and solemn advice as to how you ought to respond to the king of all kings. In light of your status as a rebel, In light of God's attitude towards your rebellion, in light of Messiah's authority and power, how ought you to respond to the king? Let's look at it, verses 10 through 12.

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 first thing God's spokesman says is make an accurate assessment of your situation. As you approach the throne, you need to make an accurate assessment of your situation.

It's time to be wise. It's time to take warning, says David. Take time to be wise. Now, therefore, O kings, be wise. you need to look at your situation accurately with wisdom you have been a fool on a fool mission for you have undertaken the impossible task of dethroning God King who we have seen in the previous weeks who we have seen turns out to be God of very God This King is God Himself, revealed in the Lord Jesus.

But pride has announced, I will not have His rule. I will not have His rule. it is pride it is arrogance that says my way is better than God's way again be reminded why should we be warned because at heart every human being is a rebel against God and they think that their way is better than God's way even though they may not articulate that no one would ever say no I think I'm I'm better than God but yet that's how they live and that's what they say. How many times, how many times have I sat with people, I've sat with people who said, look, I know that God says I shouldn't divorce, but he wants me to be happy, doesn't he?

Isn't that what God wants for all of us? Surely he doesn't mean what he says. What it boils down to, right i remember being at a church and i was talking to the deacons we were in a meeting it was a baptist church the leadership there and and uh we were in conversation i asked them so do you practice church discipline they told me about a number of the problems they were facing do you practice church discipline to which they responded what does that mean which answered my original question right away.

And I saw, I opened up the Bible and said, here's how Jesus lays out the steps. And one of those men said to me, oh, we could never do that. That would just drive problems underground. I thought my head was going to explode. This is Jesus saying this. So let me get this.

I didn't say this out loud, but I was thinking, let me get this right. you know better than Jesus how to run his church right but that's what we are like as natural born human beings we are proud we think we have a better idea than God the arrogance of Adulting self as sovereign and refusing to submit to Christ's rule produces great blindness in us. John Calvin wrote this, The beginning of true wisdom is when a man lays aside his pride and submits himself to the authority of Christ. Accordingly, however good an opinion the princes of the world may have of their own shrewdness, we may be sure they are notorious fools till they become humble scholars at the feet of Jesus.

That's exactly right. He says to us, he says to the kings, be wise at the beginning. You're raging against God. You want to throw off his rule. You think his rule is restrictive. You think his rule is ridiculous.

He says, be wise. You're a fool. if that's what you're thinking. It's time to be wise and renounce your own wisdom and submit to the wisdom of Christ. He goes on to say, take warning. Not just take time to be wise. He says, take warning.

Take warning. Have you been awakened? Have you been awakened to the sinfulness of your sin? Have you seen the hideousness of your crimes before God? Have you seen your face in this mural that David has painted in those first three verses? Be warned.

Take warning. Wisdom will take warning. Wisdom will say, you know what? I have to take a good look at myself from the perspective of God. And see what his judgments are. And stop arguing with him. you know the you I hope most of you know that the term today is woke right you got to be woke today see some of you are looking at me like well what's he talking about that's the latest buzz term that means you finally realize it's usually and I'm not making a comment on this or anything okay it's usually it's usually used in the in the context of you finally woke to the fact of your white male privilege that sort of thing maybe some of you just never read the news or get on the internet i don know but it all about being woke well that what he saying here Be woke Take warning See what you really like You a rebel Be warned This king is not going to take it kindly But in all of this not just take time to be wise, don't just take warning, but take note of the patience of Messiah here.

I think we need to take note of his patience. Here is a challenge to assess your standing, not immediate judgment. He doesn't bring judgment down immediately. If God is so angry then, as it appears in the first part of this song, if God is so angry, why hasn't judgment fallen? Why has the iron scepter not been swung to beat all the pottery to pieces, to powder?

How is it that the perpetrators of this rebellion are even invited to approach the throne? See this? He says to them, says to these rebels, be wise, be warned. He's inviting them. Why? Because God and his Messiah are long-suffering.

They are long-suffering. God does not delight in the death of the wicked. the Messiah does not delight in bringing justice down immediately without giving you a chance to respond we need to see God's warning not as the expression of a cruel tyrant but as an expression of his mercy and his long suffering you know so many people say today if God is so loving why is there so much horrible things in the world to which we need to reply. If God wasn't so loving, He would have wiped everybody out a long time ago.

But He's given you a chance to respond to Him. Oftentimes when people want to accuse God of wrong and say if God's loving, why is there so many terrible things in the world? They don't see themselves as perpetrators of terrible things. That's the problem. Why is all this stuff out there going on? Well, if you want God's justice, he'll wipe everything out, including you.

You see. So God is long Now he says David says to us in verses 11 and 12 approach the throne properly Approach the throne properly How will you find mercy with God? Here's how. You approach with the intention to serve Him. You approach with the intention to serve Him. Serve the Lord with fear.

You must tell the king of your change of mind that your intention is now not to rebel against him, but your intention now is to serve him. This is what you call repentance. It's a change of mind. And that's absolutely necessary if you're going to find mercy with God. Some come to this king with the attitude, look, God, please forgive my sins and take me to heaven, but I have no intention to serve you until then. some people, that's the way some people respond.

Lord Jesus, forgive me. Now, don't demand anything of me as a response to that. I'm going to do my own thing, but save me and take me to heaven. But I'll just keep on doing what I'm doing. There's no mercy then. There's no mercy to be found there.

Why? Look over at 1 Thessalonians. By the way, we're going to go back to that at the beginning of the year. 2 Thessalonians, but we've already been through 1 Thessalonians, so let's turn there. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. What a wonderful description of faith you see.

True saving faith you see in 1 Thessalonians 1. Verse 9. Verse 9. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, And how, note, you turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his son from heaven whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. You see that? Here's true saving faith.

It turns away from what you once served and turns to God to serve him. Now, don't be confused here. you do not find mercy because you clean up your act you don't go to God and say I'll start serving you and is that ok will I find mercy that not what he saying John MacArthur in his book The Gospel According to Jesus which was written oh my goodness this is back in the 70s I remember reading this book Here's what MacArthur said, Above all, repentance is not a pre-salvation attempt to set one's life in order. So it's not about, okay, I'm going to start doing better and then you'll have mercy.

Here's what he says, The call to repentance is not a command to make sin right. before turning to Christ in faith. Rather, it is a command to recognize one's lawlessness and hate it, to turn one's back on it, and flee to Christ, embracing him with wholehearted devotion. So it's not getting your act together, it's saying, I am lawless, I need you. I hate what I've been, I want you.

Lord, if you want to find mercy with God, you say, I hate what I've been, I've hated my rebellion, please save me and I will serve you. No other approach is wise or acceptable. Can you find mercy without a sincere intent to serve God? Listen, God's throne is on a holy hill. Can you enter his presence clinging to lawless ways? Or can you enter his presence fully intending to return to the camp?

Of rebellion and lawlessness that we see in verses 1 through 3. Can you come to God and ask for mercy with every intention of going back to your lawless ways? No. You find mercy. And that's why he says, serve the Lord with fear. Never toy with the king.

Don't toy with him. He's a marvelous savior. But you don't play games with him. you approach the throne with the intention of honoring the son that's the next thing he says kiss the son what's all this kissing business about kissing the king was a way of showing your allegiance to him of honoring him in first samuel chapter 10 verse 1 in first samuel 10 you see the story of Samuel coming to Jesse and anointing his son David as king.

And this is what it says. Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on him. on David's head and kissed him and said, has not the Lord anointed you to be prince over his people Israel? That kiss was a sign of submission and of loyalty and of allegiance. Samuel was the first to show that to the new king. So you must be prepared to submit and to follow Jesus wherever he's going to take you.

That may mean that some of the things that you've been doing, you've got to say, I've got to stop those things and I've got to start doing what Jesus says. All of us need to be saying every day, I need to stop making allowances for my sin. I'm preaching to myself here now. And I need to purposely follow what Jesus says. I need to kiss the son. I need to show him my allegiance.

I need to show him that I'm submitting to him. Be prepared to submit and to follow Christ wherever he leads or commands you to go. But realize this, this is not a way of drudgery and horrible service. Why? Serve, he says, kiss the sun, where is it? I've lost myself.

And rejoice. serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling rejoice, he's talking about rejoicing here you know one of my favorite passages is found in John 15 I want you to turn there, John 15 by the way when you're tempted to sin when you're tempted to do your own thing go to John 15 starting in verse 9 as the Father has loved me so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.

Now, now here's, here's what I want you to see. He's not saying if you keep my commandments, you'll earn my love. If you keep his commandments, you will experience, you will be planted in the love of Christ. So he says, if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my father's commandment and abide in his love jesus had a perfect experience of the love of god now notice what the last verse says these things i have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full Okay?

To serve Christ is to walk the path of joy. My joy will be in you, and it will be complete, it will be full. To walk in the commandments of Christ is to walk in the path of joy. please we have to grasp that how many of you this day have this view i need to serve christ because he saved me what a bummer i can't do what i want to do but then well i belong to jesus no no you serve him and find joy you serve him and find joy that is the path of great joy So, rejoice.

But notice the joy and the service are accompanied by fear and trembling. What is that all about? Don't you love poetry? It just starts doing things like that. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling? Yeah.

Now look, there are many who are happy. There are many who are joyful. There are many who are enjoying a pleasurable life who are enemies of God and of Christ. Do you hear me? There's lots of people who have lots of pleasure and lots of happiness and lots of joy as rebels against God and his anointed one. By the way, if it wasn't like that, who wouldn't turn to God?

Isn't that the idea? Sin is pleasurable. No, it's not. It always leads to misery, but at the moment, it sure is nice. And people are happy. But they're like many of the hikers on Mount St.

Helens that faithful day. Does anybody here remember Mount St. Helens? That was back in the 80s. Beck and I were headed to Iowa when the top of that mountain blew off. If you go to Portland, Oregon, we were there this last fall.

Beck and I were there. We're looking out my brother-in-law's hospital window. What a great view from that window. You could see these there out there these huge mountains that rise above the normal mountains Trying to remember it Hood Mount Hood right out here And over here is another huge mountain, but it looks really weird because the top of it blew off back in the 80s.

That's Mount St. Helens. I remember we were traveling to Iowa when that thing blew up. I mean, can you imagine a huge mountain that rises above the others and the whole top of that thing blew off? Just boom, like an atomic explosion. And there were people, and for that week leading up, they were saying there's steam coming out of that.

They haven't seen that for years. And there's been a lot of earthquake activity on that mountain. Well, people were up there hiking, and they were having a good time. The ground rumbled beneath their feet. The steam was coming out. But they were having a good time, enjoying the sunshine, the lovely forest, the smell of the pines in the air, beautiful plants and animals, and suddenly all of their happiness and pleasure ended, and they were wiped out, never to be seen, as that mountain just blew.

They're gone. Done. Never found. Obliterated. In a moment of time. Okay?

That's what happens. Lots of pleasure. Suddenly, it's done. The people of God find joy in service and devotion while understanding the great power and majesty of their king. And the horrific judgment that they have escaped. That's why we can rejoice with trembling.

Why? Because we realize what we've escaped. That's why we serve the Lord with fear. Because we know how powerful and majestic he is. even though I'm not subject to his wrath. They rejoice, and yet they tremble at the near catastrophe they've escaped. I remember one time being in Myers with my children.

The problem was I was there with them. Their mom wasn't. And we were having a good time until suddenly I realized, as I turned around to see if all six of my children were there, one was missing, Lydia. Lydia was missing. I want to tell you the fear that gripped my heart I ran outside and I just started looking at cars and seeing if anybody had that little girl She was only probably about three Had her by her hand and was taking her somewhere.

I didn't see anything. I told the other kids, you just stay right here. And I just went looking. I found her. She was sitting in an aisle playing with something. But you know what? there was just this absolute, utter joy in my heart.

Right? But boy, I was trembling. I was trembling at the near catastrophe of that event. That's what he's talking about. And he says, approach the throne because there's great urgency. There's great urgency pressed upon you lest he be angry and you perish in the way.

Do not see God's long suffering. Don't see that as an excuse to postpone turning to the throne and serving this God. You may be destroyed in the middle of your journey. Long before you've reached what you consider the goal, you may be destroyed. How many of you are sitting here? Some of you are sitting here.

I'll bet some of you have never come to Christ. You are sitting here right now and you're saying, nothing's happened to me. And in fact, listen, I understand. I've heard about this Jesus and I've heard a lot about him. But I'm just going to, let me play out what I want to do. And when I'm done, when I'm tired of it, then I'll turn to Jesus.

Friend, you may never get to that goal before the anger of God is kindled against you. It'll happen in a moment. It'll happen in a moment. It would flare up quickly. He's been forbearing with you. He has let you go on.

He has showered you with blessings. He's been good to you. He's been forbearing with you. But suddenly, it may all come to an end. You need to understand that. Lest He be angry in your way, you may not get to the end of what you planned when suddenly the judgment of God arrives.

Yet, at the very end, here's the last thing that the spokesman tells us. Appreciate the king's gracious invitation. The very last thing, after he said all those things about God's wrath and his judgment, he says this, Blessed are all. refuge in him. This is an invitation, not an ultimatum. Isn't this marvelous? This king who hates the rebellion, who laughs at it, who says there's judgment coming, and who says judgment can come quickly, don't play games, then ends by saying, blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Blessing, not curses. God holds out blessing and not cursing and wrath. those who grieve over and hate their ways can come to this one that they hated and find blessing. You will find no vengeance, no bitterness, no harshness when you surrender to this king. Now some of you who know history, all of you should know this part of history. It was the Bataan Death March.

You ever heard of it? when the Japanese attacked the Philippines at the beginning of World War II, in the first three months of 1942, American and Filipino forces held out on Bataan and Corregidor for three months against the Japanese. And then finally, General King, knowing that no reinforcements were coming, nothing was going to come from the United States, they were alone, surrendered to the Japanese. You know what happened to those men?

They marched them and marched them. And most of them died. Why? Because their captors hated them. Their captors thought of them as cowards. And they didn think they deserved to live And so they marched them until most of them died Long before they ever got to the ships that would take them to the prison camps They beat them They shot them You fell out of line you were dead Now when you surrender to this king, that's not what you will find.

That's the point. Even though you've hated him, even though you've been in rebellion against him, even though you have been energized in not doing what he tells you to do, in omitting what He says you should do and doing the things He says you should not. After all that, once you surrender to Him, you know what you find? Let's look at it in Matthew 11.

This is what Jesus says. Matthew 11, verse 28. Come to Me. Surrender. Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and what? I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart. And you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Former rebels, when they surrender, find a gentle, loving, humble king. He will be fierce with the obstinate. No doubt about that.

He will be fierce in His judgment. But the humble, repentant sinner will find blessing. You find blessing when you feel the weight of your rebellion and finally surrender And He holds out the invitation of refuge Here what amazing to me The one who will bring final judgment the one who will step forth when his anger is kindled, and finally his righteous fury arrives in judgment.

Where do you find refuge from that? you know where you find it in him you find refuge from the wrath of god in god himself you flee to him you surrender to jesus you run to him and in him you will find refuge only in embracing the crucified christ will you find refuge in peace you find refuge in him in the very king that will execute judgment on the obstinate. He is the place of refuge. Now maybe you've never surrendered to this Christ.

Listen, his long suffering should not make you complacent to your sin. God and Christ hold out to you a gracious invitation. Man, listen to it. Embrace him. Abandon your ways and embrace Jesus. you believers who are here you felt the weight of God's threats but you have taken the way of wisdom and you have tasted the glory of his salvation you should find great rejoicing in this time of year Because that baby we don celebrate him because he was some poor pitiful soul born in a barn.

He is the king. And he extends an invitation to find rest in him because he's gentle and lowly in heart. Father, thank you. for Your marvelous Word. Thank You for the joy of serving this great King. Father, You take unworthy, sinful, polluted people and You invite them to find joy in serving You. What a great King our Lord Jesus is then, to take us, use us, and give us joy, give us peace, and give us rest.

Help us to serve Him with hearts that rejoice in His kindness. Lord, as we celebrate this time of the year, Remind us that this mighty King came in a humble way, because that's the kind of King He is. God help us, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen.