Leading Questions (Psalm 2) | Charles Zimmerman | Calvary Church

Well, with that in mind, let me uh read

Psalm 2. You can follow along if you

have your phone, your Bible, your iPad,

whatever you want. Or you can just sit

and listen. Psalm two is short, only 12

verses long. Very important, though. And

we'll talk about that in a couple

minutes. So, here we go. Psalm two. Why

do the nations conspire and the people

plot in vain? The kings of the earth

rise up and the rulers band together

against the Lord and against his

anointed, saying, "Let us break their

chains and throw off their shackles."

The one enthroned in heaven laughs. The

Lord scoffs at them. He rebukes them in

his anger and terrifies them in his

wrath, saying, "I have installed my king

on Zion, my holy mountain. I will

proclaim the Lord's decree. He said to

me, "You are my son. Today I have become

your father. Ask me and I will make the

nations your inheritance, the ends of

the earth your possession. You will

break them with a rod of iron. You will

dash them to pieces like pottery.

Therefore, you kings, be wise. Be

warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve

the Lord with fear and celebrate his

rule with trembling. Kiss his son or you

will be or he will be angry and your way

will lead to your destruction. For his

wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed

are all who take refuge in him. Now that

may seem a little strange, but if we ask

and try to answer the four questions,

it'll make sense. First of all, what's

the Psalm teaching? What is Psalm 2

teaching? Well, in order to help us

understand what it's teaching, let me

mention a couple of things that you may

not have noticed or may not have picked

up just on a cursory reading. First of

all, the placement of Psalm two.

Psalm two comes after Psalm one. See,

that's why people come to Calvary Church

to learn stuff like that, right? So, but

that is very important. Those two psalms

are meant to go together. Now, I can

show you that in a couple of different

ways. First of all, if you look at the

two Psalms in your Bible, or you have to

take my word for it if you're not

looking, Psalm 1 and Psalm two do not

have titles. But if you look at Psalm 3,

four, five, and almost all the other

Psalms from book one, Psalm five books,

right, the first book, Psalm 1 through

through 41, almost every one of those

psalms have a title. Psalm one and Psalm

two, they do not have titles because

Psalm 1 and Psalm two were meant to be

the title, be the instruction for the

whole book of Psalms. Probably not

written by David, probably written later

to be the introduction to Psalms. But

there's another reason that shows us

those psalms go together, too. And this

one is actually more significant. Verse

one of Psalm 1 says, "Blessed is the

one."

Psalm 2 verse12, the last verse in Psalm

2, "Blessed are all, huh? Blessed Psalm

11, blessed Psalm 212." Technically,

that's called an inclusio.

the author writes um and ends that and

says all of this in between that goes

together. So Psalm 1 and Psalm two are

meant to go together. And if you read

the suit the the two psalms and you'll

see that they're different and yet

they're also similar. So for example,

Psalm one is all about an individual,

the individual that is blessed. How do

you find blessedness? Well, you sink the

roots of your life down into God's word.

We said a couple weeks ago, you meditate

on God's word. You transmit, you

translate that scripture into your life

and you live it out. Just like a tree

sucks in nourishment from the ground and

it provides nourishment for the tree.

So, we suck in through meditation God's

word and it produces fruitfulness in our

lives. That's Psalm one. What's Psalm

two about? Psalm two is not about two

roads. Psalm two is about two responses.

And it's not about an individual. It's

about a people group. It's about groups

of people. And what's it say? The groups

of people are either thinking about the

wrong road, living on that road, or

they're thinking about living on the

right road. And those on the right road

are those that are blessed. Personal and

groups. The groups are blessed if they

find their refuge in the king. The

individual is blessed as he is rooted in

God's word. Psalm one, individuals

rooted are blessed. Psalm two, groups

are finding their refuge in God and

they're blessed. The two Psalms go

together. Well, we're we're looking at

Psalm two. Um, so that's the placement.

The second thing you may not notice is

that there are four different voices in

Psalm 2. Now, I know a couple weeks ago

and maybe maybe a few times since then

you've heard, well, you know, the book

of Psalms is not primarily God's word to

us. It's primarily our words to God.

Yeah, that's right. But in Psalm two,

they're actually four voices that show

up. And it's real nice because they're

broken down into three verses each. Who

speaks first? The world speaks first,

right? the nations, the people groups.

What do they say? Well, their their

response is they're against God. Here's

what they say in verse three. Let us

break their chains and throw off their

shackles. They do not want to live in

subjection. They don't want to live

under God's rule. They want to throw off

God's shackles. They want to throw off

God's yoke in their life. They want to

call their own shots. They don't want to

live under God's authority. That's what

the first group says, right? the world,

the group. Secondly, beginning in verse

four, now the father speaks. Now, what

does the father say? Well, he says it

down in in verse six.

Yeah. They say, "I want to throw off my

chains." What's the father say? I have

installed my king on Zion, my holy

mountain. Um, in other words, uh, yeah,

you're rebelling. You want to th deal

with it. I've enthroned. I've installed

my king. Deal with it. Then the son

speaks beginning in verse 7.

Interestingly, the son primarily quotes

what his father said. So it's the son

speaking. We know that from what we're

going to read, but he doesn't speak his

own words. He remembers and he quotes

what his father said. So beginning in

verse uh seven, I will proclaim the

Lord's decree. Then the son says, "He,

my father said to me, you are my son.

Today I have become your father. Ask me.

I will make the nations your

inheritance, the ends of the earth your

possession." Right? So now the son

speaks. Lastly, beginning at verse 10,

now the psalmist speaks. So the the

people groups are speaking. They're

rebelling against God. We don't want you

to be our king. The father speaks and

says, "Well, I've installed my king.

Deal with it. You do have a king. Then

the son speaks. The father said to me,

"He's my father and if I would ask, he

would give me the ends of the earth."

Then the psalmist speaks. And here's his

word to us. We know that. Look at verse

10. Therefore, on the basis of what the

world says, on the base of what the

father says, on the basis of what the

son says, therefore

be wise.

Be warned, you rulers of the earth.

Serve the Lord with fear. celebrate his

rule with trembling. And look further

down. Blessed are all who take refuge in

him. Four voices, the world, the father,

the son. Therefore, submit to the son.

Celebrate his sovereignty, his rule over

you. Find your refuge in him. Those are

the four voices. Well, anyway, but that

is a little bit about back. So, what

does psalm to teach?

Well, here's what it teaches. here a

couple verses from the beginning.

Why do the nations conspire and the

people plot in vain? Why do the kings of

the earth rise up and the rulers band

together against the Lord and against

his anointed saying, "Let us break their

chains, throw off their shack." Why do

they do that? It's almost as if the

psalmist says like, "I can't believe it.

Why in the world would the people of the

earth stand in opposition to this God

who obviously is wise, who obviously is

powerful, who obviously created all this

stuff? How in the world and why would

you ever stand against that God? And so

what do we learn? We learn this.

Rebellion against God isn't anything

new. In Psalm two, there's rebellion

against God. But that rebellion actually

began a long time ago. What's the theme?

Rebels rebel. That rebellion begins all

the way back in Genesis chapter 3. Our

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

first parents, right? Adam and Eve, what

do they do? God initiates. God says, "I

created all of this. Now, here's my word

for you. Do these things and don't do

that thing." What do they do? They do

what God said don't do, and they don't

do what God said. That's rebellion. That

isn't just an accident. It isn't they

tripped into it and couldn't help

themselves. They rebel against God. And

by the time we get to Psalm 2, the

rebellion continues. So it starts in

Genesis 3 and continues. What do we

learn in them in Psalm 2? God then

responds.

But what do we learn? Rebels rebel. The

rebellion started all the way in Genesis

3. And the rebellion continues in the

psalmist day. And it doesn't take a

genius to figure out the rebellion still

continues, right? And if we're honest,

Psalm 2 isn't just a description of

people in the world in the nations. It's

kind of a mirror. When you look into it,

we see ourselves in the group of those

that rebel. In fact, when Ro was called

in the group of rebellion, in the group

of the rebellious, our names are there,

right? Isn't just a description. It's

actually a diagnosis. So that's what the

psalm teaches. Got it? All right. So

let's move on. What's the second

question? What do we learn about God?

And what do we learn about God? Well,

there's some hints. Some are explicit,

but most of it kind of comes a way of a

hint. And here's one.

The nations of the world rise up against

God. They want to throw off God's

shackles, want to throw off his chains.

What does God do?

He laughs. He laughs. That's not comedy.

That's sovereignty.

God created all this. He rules all of

this. He laughs. They're in rebellion

against God. They're rising up against

him as if somehow they could throw off

the sovereign king of the universe and

the one he installed on the throne. Um

there aren't many uh earthly metaphors

or illustrations that work, but I was uh

reminded of one this past week. Uh we

were at the shore for a few days with

the whole family. So Kim and I were

there, our two daughters were there, two

sons-in-law were there, my two

grandsons, and my two granddogs,

my two grand French bulldogs,

they were there. Now, if you're not

familiar with French bulldogs, they're

kind of like potatoes with little legs.

Um they sleep like 20 hours a day.

They're only up to eat. That's the only

time they get up. Well, if it's getting

time to eat and they're hungry, they

tanalyze you, right? They come up and

they kind of kick and they bother you.

And if you don't give them a treat or

you won't give them a second treat or

you won't feed them, they you look,

they're angry, right? And they kind of

like, you know, bark a little bit and

come at you. But it's funny, right? It's

like these little potatoes are somehow

going to force you to feed them. They're

going to attack you and take you out.

Um, what did my grandsons do? What does

everybody do when they're fussing and

fighting trying to get We laugh, right?

What are they going to do to somehow

overthrow the rule of when Megan said

they're having dinner? Nothing.

Yeah. Multiply that by like infinity.

God looks at the people of this world

rising up against him. Somehow going to

demand their way. They're going to call

the shots. God laughs, right? He laughs.

The psalmist says, "How in the world can

they be so crazy?" That isn't a

spiritual test. That's an IQ test.

Right? Don't be stupid. Don't stand

against the king of the UN. That's

sovereignty. Yeah. But it isn't just

sovereignty. We also learn that God is

good. Now, if we read Psalm 1 and Psalm

two together, we know that God wants to

bless us. In Psalm 1, God says, "Here's

the road that leads to blessedness." Why

does he tell them that? Because he wants

the people to walk the road to

blessedness. Otherwise, he wouldn't tell

them how to get there. He wants us to

experience blessedness. What is Psalm

two about? He wants us to respond to him

so we experience blessedness. Blessed

the individual that roots his life in

God. Blessed are those who respond and

find their refuge in God. Rooted in God,

finding a refuge in God. That's what God

wants. God's good. He isn't just

sovereign. He's good. He wants us to

experience the abundant life. He wants

us to experience blessedness. And he

knows the only way we're going to

experience that is if we live life his

way. He designed life to live a certain

way. And if you don't live that way,

you'll never experience blessedness.

You'll experience brokenness.

You know, we live in a culture that I

guess isn't that strange. It's been this

way uh ever since Genesis 3 that wants

to throw off God's rule. Wants to throw

off God's rules. And we don't want to

live the way God says. Um and often that

expression comes up like this. I want to

be free. In fact, I am free. I'm free to

do whatever I want, whenever I want,

with whomever I want. That's what

freedom is. Can I speak truth? That's

not freedom. That's stupidity.

Let me give you a couple examples. I

mentioned a couple weeks ago that my

grandsons have axelottals.

They live in a fish tank. They live in

water, right? They're amphibia. They

don't walk around. Well, just suppose

this didn't happen, but it could, but

this didn't happen. Suppose yesterday my

youngest grandson Carter says, "Uh, you

know, it's rainy out. I can't go out,

but so I'm going to play with my

axelottals."

Suppose he gets a little net, takes him

out of the fish tank, and puts him on

the floor next to him and says, "Let's

play Uno, or let's build something with

these blocks." Let me ask you, are the

axelottals free? The axelottals are

dying. That's what they're doing, right?

They're not free when they're out of the

water on the carpet or on the sofa.

They're because they were designed to

live in water.

Um, some of you probably saw the new Air

Force One, Trump's new Air Force One,

red, white, and blue. Um, is the new Air

Force One free if it's stationed if it's

placed in the middle of the link today

for the World Cup match? Is it free? No.

First of all, how you how would you get

it in there? It's not free. It's stuck.

It can't. You can't do anything in

there, right? Is a giant cruise ship

free if you put it in Skip Back Creek?

No, it's not free. Where is Air Force

One free? At 35,000 feet. When it's

majestic in the sky, right? Where is a

cruise ship free? In the middle of the

ocean. Where are axelottals free? In the

water. Where are we free when we're

living in sync and in the context of

God's word and God's plan headed toward

blessedness? True freedom has a context.

True freedom always has limitations. And

if you step outside those limitations,

you're not free. You're broken and

headed toward destruction. Now, we know

that in every area of life, except when

it comes to morality and spirituality.

All of a sudden, we shift gears and we

don't know it anymore. So, what do we

learn about God? He's sovereign. He

laughs at those opposed to him. But he's

good. He tells us how to be blessed, how

to experience the abundant life. He

wants us to. He says, "Root your life in

me. Find your refuge in me and you will

be blessed." He's a good God. Well, we

got another question.

What do we learn about us? What do we

learn about us? What does Psalm two

reveal about me? Uh, here's where it

gets uh a little painful.

Psalm two is not just a description of

people in the world. It's a diagnosis

of my heart. It's a diagnosis of your

heart, too. You see, we're in that group

of rebels that are rebelling. We're in

that group that stand in opposition to

God. Now, to help you understand this, I

I need to give you a little Hebrew.

Don't worry, you don't have to learn the

Hebrew words. I need to give you a

little Hebrew lesson. If you look back

up in and into Psalm 1 verse two, it

says, "Blessed are those who meditate on

God's law day and night." See, meditate.

Remember a couple weeks ago, what did we

say? There's meditation food and then

there's non meditation food, beef jerky,

meditation food, peanut chews. You got

to work at it, right? You got to chew

on. They're meditation. So, what should

we do? We should be meditating on God's

word, chewing on it, thinking about it,

turning it over, playing. That's how we

take God's word from our head to our

hearts, right? Through meditation. Now

look at verse two of Psalm or verse one

of Psalm two. Why do the nations

conspire and people plot? You see that

word plot? That's the same word as

meditation.

So what are the people doing in Psalm

two? They are meditating,

thinking about, turning over and over in

again in their minds, think

contemplating how they can get rid of

God as their king. They don't want to be

rooted in God's word. They don't want to

take refuge in God. And they spend their

time meditating and thinking on how to

get rid of God. You see, Psalm 2

ultimately says, "God has given us a

king." And we say, "We don't want a

king." And we meditate how to do life

the way we want with whomever we want

whenever we want. So let me ask you,

what do you meditate more on? Living in

sync with God's word, rooting your life

in him, finding your refuge in him, or

do you spend a lot of time and energy

meditating and plotting how to get rid

of him as your king and live exactly the

way you want? You see, Psalm two uh is a

diagnosis. It isn't just a description.

Okay. Well, that brings us to uh our

last question.

How does Psalm two

point to Jesus?

Um well, you may say, well, it's obvious

God installed as king. That's Jesus.

Yeah, but when Psalm 2 was written, it

was probably referring to a Davidic

king. either the installation of David

or the installation of one of David's

descendants. Um but did you notice as I

read um the psalm overflows the banks.

So for example um the son says the

father asked me I will give the nations

to you if you ask. I'll give you the

ends of the earth. David never

experienced ruling the ends of the

earth. All the nations were not. And so

there is something to the psalm kind of

overflowing the banks.

Yeah. But it gets a little more pointed

than that. Not sure you realize this

because uh we don't know the Bible

really well. Do you know that Psalm 2

is actually quoted numerous times in the

New Testament? It's like all over the

place. Psalm 27 says this. I will

proclaim the Lord's decree. Now the son

says, "The father said to me, you are my

son today. I become your father."

Do those words sound familiar from the

New Testament? Let me mention just a

couple of the pl it's all over the

place. Let me mention just a couple.

When Jesus came to John the Baptist to

be baptized in Matthew 3, and it's in

the other synoptics. Jesus shows up to

get baptized. Um, John the Baptist sees

him on the shore and John says, "Behold

the lamb of God who takes away the sin

of the world." And boy, that statement's

full of all kinds of theology, right?

Lambs from the Old Testament were

sacrificed regularly. But John is

somehow saying, "Yeah, but they really

couldn't take away sin." But the lamb of

God, the lamb of God has now come and

he's going to take away the sin of the

world. the the lambs of the Old

Testament were a picture, an

illustration of the ultimate lamb and

he's now here. And so Jesus goes into

the river. John baptizes him and as John

lifts Jesus out of the water,

the father booms from heaven. Remember

the voice from heaven. And what does the

father say?

He quotes Psalm two.

The father says in Matthew 3,

"This is my son

whom I love. With you I am well

pleased." That's Psalm two. How about in

Hebrews 1? We looked at Hebrews a few

months ago. Both Hebrews 1 and Hebrews 5

both quote Psalm two. So the writer of

Hebrews is making his case that Jesus is

better. better than Moses, better than

the angels, better than the sacrificial

system, better than the Jesus is better

than anything you have. Well, what does

he say to make his point that Jesus is

better than the angels? He says in

Hebrews 1,

to which of the angels did God say, you

are my son?

None. But to Jesus, he said, you are my

son. That's John 2. Hebrews 5, same

thing. You are my son. Paul's preaching

about um Jesus in the gospel. He

preached about Jesus being killed,

crucified for our sin, being raised from

the dead. And he's preaching in this in

the church of Pacidian Antioch in Acts

13. You can check it out. And what does

he say to prove Jesus resurrection? He

says, "God kept his promise that he made

to us." And then he quotes, he even says

this, as David wrote in Psalm 2, "You

are my son today. I've become your

father."

In the book of Revelation, numerous

times, what does John write in

Revelation? You are my son. You're my

You see, how does Psalm 2 point to

Jesus? It explicitly points Psalm two is

all over the New Testament, particularly

verse 7 where the father says, "Jesus,

you are my ultimate son.

with you I am well pleased. So what does

that mean though? Yeah. So far we said

pretty interesting, right? We've learned

a little about placement. Psalm 1 and

two. Learned a little about structure,

four voices. Learned about the fact that

God's sovereign and God's good. Learned

about that we're not and we're rebels

running against him and he take all

we're in that group. We learned that

Psalm 2 points to Jesus all over the New

Testament. Psalm two.

So what?

Well, here. So, what

did you notice in Psalm two early on it

says that God has installed

his king

installation.

God has installed his king. But you you

can put the verse up.

I have installed my king on Zion,

my holy mountain.

That may have been an illustration of a

Davidic king.

Its ultimate fulfillment is in Jesus.

You are my son whom I love and he has

installed him as king. You can rebel

against him. You can do whatever you

want. And you can and can I say nicely,

God laughs. I said, "Okay, you're going

to kind of stand against me. What are

you like a potato with legs trying to

come and take me out?

But it's not just installation.

It's also invitation.

Remember how we talked about um Psalm 2

actually gives us the paradigm of the

whole Bible. It works like this. God

initiates. And what does he initiate? He

wants human beings made in his image to

experience blessedness, to experience

the bundela. He wants us to experience

wonder and grace and joy and love. He

wants us to experience it all. And what

do we do? We rebel against that. We

don't want a king.

Um when it says they want to throw off

his chains, get rid of it. Um the actual

wording there is yoke. Yoke. We want to

throw off the yoke that God places. You

know what a yoke? Yolk's kind of like a

bridal for a horse. Kind of like yoke

for oxen. Makes them useful. Um

do you know how horses get broken? How

you break a horse? Uh, I don't either.

Um, but I have watched Rifleman and

Yellowstone, so I know. Here's how it

works. You take a wild horse running

around destroying things, right?

Tramping on stuff. Good for nothing.

Well, how do you break the Well, you put

a bride on, you stand back, right? You

put a saddle on, you stand back. You let

him kind of get used to it. Then you go

in and eventually you get him running in

a circle. And after a while, you can

climb on his back and he won't kill you

at first. and and and you it takes a

long well in a sense

that's exactly what the Christian life

is, isn't it? God is breaking us to be

useful, to experience blessedness, to

experience rootedness, to experience God

as our refuge. We've got to be broken

just like a horse. What do we do? We

want to throw off the bridal. We want to

throw off the saddle. We're in the group

of the rebellious. But God loves us too

much because he knows blessedness is

only found when the horse is broken when

the horse is now useful.

Installation

and invitation. Here's how he says it in

verse 12.

Kiss the sun. Um that's a sign of

submission, right? You acknowledge the

son as your authority, as your king.

Just like the song psalm said earlier,

you acknowledge he's your king and you

find your refuge in him. Submission and

refuge. That's the invitation.

So the psalmist sums up the whole psalm.

He says, "The world is in rebellion."

And here we are at Saturn Church, Saturn

20s 26. We're in that group. Rebels

rebel. That's us.

God's sovereign and God's good. He's

told us how to live. He wants us to

experience blessedness and abundance.

The son speaks and he says, "Father,

you've promised to give me the ends of

the earth and all the nations. I will

rule over them." The psalmist says,

"Balls in your court now. What are you

going to do?"

Two roads in Psalm one,

two responses in Psalm two.

Are you going to continue the rebellion?

Are you going to kiss the son and find

your refuge in him? Only two choice. Oh

yeah, I think I remember reading that

from Psalm one. Only two roads. Psalm

two, only two responses.

Choose wisely.

Eternity depends on it. Let's pray.

Father, we give you thanks for psalms

and particularly we give you thanks for

psalm two.

Maybe a psalm that is a little different

because there are various voices that

are there. A psalm that we may wonder

how it fits and yet with just a little

bit of time we realize it fits

perfectly.

Lord, thanks for

overcoming our rebellion and promising a

refuge,

overcoming our choosing our own way by

leading us back to the right way.

Jesus, thanks uh for not only bringing

judgment to those who choose against

you, but to bring grace, forgiveness,

and reconciliation,

refuge to those who come submit to you

and find their refuge in him, not in our

own doing. We pray in the name of the

son. Amen.