Kiss the Son - Psalm 2 - Sunday Sermon

Well, good morning.

>> Thank you all for coming this morning to

Boon Fairy. If uh you don't recognize me

because you haven't seen me before, my

name is Steve Holidayiday. I have had

the pleasure of coming to Boon Fairy for

several years now when Montist needs a

break or when he's on vacation or

whatever to uh help in the speaking and

the teaching and I'm really grateful and

glad to be here this morning. Uh today

we are going to be in Psalm two. Psalm

two, one of the easiest Psalms to divide

and uh organize of any of them because

there's 12 verses. There's four

sections. Each of them is three verses.

It's very easy. But the message is

extremely powerful.

I want to talk this morning first of all

about kissing.

I was a single guy for 40ome years and

uh didn't do a lot of it actually.

Um but after I got married, you know, it

became more and more important. In fact,

um they can be very powerful. Next

slide.

This was Lisa's aunt Evelyn, her husband

Bob. They were in ministry for many,

many years. He was a pastor for 70ome

years. And um Evelyn was very proper and

every Christmas we got together at the

coast. All of her family and uh

sometimes members of my family as well

came and Evelyn was sitting next to me

at one time. We used to have these uh

after we had a dinner, we would go into

a larger room and we'd play games,

different kinds of games. They were very

rockous. Her family is very loud. And um

Evelyn would sit there and for whatever

reason one I don't I still don't know

why I did it. She was sitting next to me

and it was during one of these games and

I must have unconsciously thought for a

moment that my wife Lisa was sitting

next to me because without thinking I

just turned to her and kissed her on the

cheek.

And then I realized what I had done. I

went why did you just do that? But when

I saw her face,

there was this explosion of

it was like nobody did that with Aunt

Evelyn even though she was a delightful

person. And I thought at the moment and

still even think that I think the Lord

prompted me to do that at the time even

though I didn't know it was Aunt Evelyn

because in her life at that moment it

was an extremely powerful thing.

This psalm today, one of the key verses

is about the power of a kiss.

And we'll be speaking about that a bit

later. But first, let's pray.

Our father, I thank you for this day. I

thank you for this text. I thank you for

how it has ministered to millions of

people over thousands of years. And I

pray, Father, that this morning you

might speak to each of us through it,

through its message, that it might

encourage our hearts, that it might

instruct us, that we might live in a way

that not only pleases you, but gives you

delight. We pray these things in Jesus

name. Amen.

The first section, verses 1-3, I've just

called the world's folly. The world's

folly. If you look at Psalm 2, the first

three verses, here's what he writes.

Why do the nations rage and the peoples

of the earth 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."

When he says, "Why do the nations rage?"

The word he uses for nations is

which means Gentiles. It's us. Why are

they raging? The Lord rules over the

whole world even though they don't know

it. And the peoples, he say, plot in

vain. To rage means to be in an uproar.

To plot means to imagine or to devise or

to murmur, to meditate on how you can do

something secretly that will destroy

something else. And he says it's vain.

The word in Hebrew means empty. It means

worthless.

And when he says, "The kings of the

earth set themselves and the rulers take

counsel together against the Lord,"

that's obviously God the Father and

against his anointed.

Anointed

speaks of the anointed one, eventually

the Messiah. In this text, in its first

context, it's really in reference to the

king, the human king that the Lord has

set on the throne. maybe David, maybe

one of his sons. He's the anointed. But

you can see as this psalm moves through,

he's really talking in a much larger

context about the anointed one himself,

the Messiah who is to come, Jesus.

And it's really interesting to me

because the plot that they have here,

what you see happening

has been used successfully ever since

the Garden of Eden. It's exactly the

same thing where it says here, "Let us

burst their bonds apart and cast away

their cords from us."

It's really just a Satan's ancient lie.

Do you remember what it was? God said,

"Don't eat of this tree or you'll die."

And Satan said, "You will not surely

die. For God knows that when you eat of

it, your eyes will be opened and you

will be like God, knowing good and

evil." In other words, God says it's a

bad thing, but he knows it's really a

good thing.

Don't listen to him.

Do what's good for yourself.

Do you think that happens today?

I know it does. Let me give you just

three examples. Here's the first one.

You ever seen scenes like that? Our

bodies, our freedom, our bodies, our

choice, our rights. Pro-woman,

pro-choice.

What they're saying is that we have a

right to do whatever we want with our

bodies.

Now, I can see why secular people would

say that. I think they're wrong, but I

can see why they'd say it. Why

Christians would say that is hard for me

to understand

because the New Testament makes it clear

that our bodies belong to God as much as

we do. I just finished with a book by

one of my former profs at uh if you

don't know, I've been a book editor for

over 40 years. I just finished with a

book with one of my former profs at

Regent, Mark Newman, who spends a lot of

time in the pro-life movement. And this

book is called Pivot. It's really,

really good. It's really, really long,

too. But I just got finished reading

about many of the ways that our world

tells us break those bonds apart.

Do not be under that rule. You get to

choose whatever you want to do, even if

it kills somebody else. We don't think

about that. Your autonomy is the main

thing. That is what this is saying. Let

us burst their bonds apart and cast away

their cords from us. But it's not just

on the social scene. It's in the

religious scene.

Presbyterian church faces internal

revolt after proposing clergy must be in

monogous relationships. That's not a

joke. This is actually happening now.

More light Presbyterians, which is a

group within the PCUSA, the Presbyterian

Church USA, hosted a faithful polyamory

101 training last month while lobbying

against the rule. Let me read you this

part of the story.

A progressive Christian denomination is

facing sharp internal backlash over

proposed rule that would require

ordained clergy to be in a monogous

sexual relationship or ships plural. The

Presbyterian Church USA is set to vote

on the monogamy requirement at its

general assembly this summer in

Milwaukee. The measure has sparked

fierce debate and outrage from three

official progressive church committees

and polyamorous church groups. Now, you

should know uh one of the reasons why

this is in more interesting to me than

it maybe would be to some others is that

for a long time is the the the church

that I was a member of for the longest

time was the Presbyterian church. When I

first joined, they were in the PCUSA.

They were by far the largest church in

that um uh section of the country. They

were also by far the most conservative.

And so eventually we left it and went

into another denomination. So these

kinds of discussions had already started

20ome years ago. Let me read the rest of

it. The PCUSA has allowed for the

ordination of openly gay clergy since

2011 and altered its definition of

marriage to two people in 2014. The new

proposed rule argues that the practice

of polyamory or or polygamy, which is

having more than one sexual partner, can

create quote power imbalances, emotional

harm, and spiritual confusion,

particularly for women, children, and

historically marginalized persons. The

rule states that PCUSA pastors must

quote display moral character. So that's

what's being attacked.

The rule also asked the church to

develop its pastoral resources to help

people leaving polyamorous and

polygamous situations. The proposal drew

outrage from three official PCUSA church

advisory committees. This is how now

it's being said in this era. Not like it

was here, but it's the same idea.

The Advocacy Committee for Women and

Gender Justice claimed that requiring

pastors to be monogous attempts to quote

regulate the private lives and

relational structures of individuals in

ways that risk harm rather than healing.

The committee further argued that a

monogamy mandate could unintentionally

reinforce systems of shame, silence, and

spiritual coercion. The advocacy

committee on LGBTQIA

plus equity argued that the monogamy

rule reinforced white privilege and that

it imposes a narrow culturally specific

understanding of family that privileges

a dominant cultural framework over the

lived realities of communities of color

and global Christians. The advisory

committee on social witness policy

argued that the measure should be

rejected in favor of a separate proposal

to study quote diverse understandings of

relationships.

More light Presbyterians, a prominent

progressive activist group within the

denomination, has aggressively lobbied

against the monogamy rule. The group

hosted a faithful polyamory 101 training

last month. It said the rule would take

the Peace USA backward by centering on a

single model of relationships as the

only faithful expression of Christian

life. Do you see what they're all

saying?

We don't care

what the word of God says. You'll notice

in none of those things is scripture

mentioned once because the PCUSA has

steadily moved away from that over the

years. Now it's about what do our people

say? What do we say? What do the leaders

say? Let us break their bonds apart.

We don't need to be under that anymore.

In my opinion, the Peace USA and groups

like it, and this is just my opinion, I

don't really consider them a church

anymore. These are really political

organizations which are covered with an

extremely thin veneer of religion.

But it's not just social. It's not just

religion. It's government.

Let me give you the easiest one is the

Soviet Union which now doesn't exist

anymore. Here's an image. Can you tell

me who those guys are?

Anybody know?

>> Start over on the left. Marx, Friedrich

Engles,

Vladimir Lennon, Joseph Stalin. When you

think of the Soviet Union, that's who

you think of.

I happened upon an article when I was

looking at this stuff that was

fascinating. It told me some things I

didn't know about this time. I knew some

of it. I'm going to read part of this,

too. This is going to be different from

the rest of the sermon. I just wanted to

give you a background on what is

happening today. This very thing, but in

a different iteration.

Bolevik leaders believed history had

called upon them to begin the

apocalyptic transition to communist

society foretold by the founders of

their faith who were Marks and Engles.

Their aim inherited from Marks and

Angles was nothing less than the final

realization of human freedom. Hear that?

That's what they were about. Let us

break their bonds apart.

and the end of the prehistory of the

human race to rehabilitate man so he

could take his rightful place as master

of the world and lord of creation. We

don't want a lord outside of us. We're

going to be the Lord and this is how

we're going to do it.

Labor camps for class enemies already

had been established under Lenin as

early as August 1918, which is when the

revolution started.

They were vastly enlarged under his

successor Joseph Stalin. Who was sent

there? Anyone with lingering Zarus

sentiments, those who had still

supported the Zsar

and recalcitrant members of the middle

classes, liberals, Mencheviks,

anarchists, priests and ley of the

Orthodox Church, Baptists and other

religious dissidents, wreckers, sub

suspects of every description, and then

kulocks who were basically peasants and

other peasants by the hundreds of

thousands. Now listen to this. During

the great purge of the middle 1930s,

communist bureaucrats and intellectuals

themselves were victims. So the people

that were teaching the folks this became

the victims of this. More masses of

human beings were shipped in after the

annexations of Eastern Poland and the

Baltic states than enemy prisoners of

war, the internal enemy nationalities,

and the returning Soviet prisoners of

war who were captured by Nazi Germany

during World War II who are viewed as

traitors for having surrendered. They

all flooded into the camps after 1945.

The most notorious of the camps was Kyma

in eastern Siberia. Actually, a system

of camps four times the size of France.

Think of that. The camps that were set

up by the group that said, "Let us break

their bonds apart so that we can be

free," had prison camps four times the

size of France.

There, the death rate may have been as

high as 50% per year. The number of

deaths was probably about three million.

In 1940, there was Kaitton and the

murder of Polish officers. In 1952, the

leaders of Yiddish culture in the Soviet

Union were liquidated in mass. Both

drops in the bucket for Stalin. During

the purges, there were probably about 7

million arrests. One out of every 10

arrested was executed. How many died

altogether? No one will ever know. The

sum total of deaths due to Soviet policy

in the Stalin period alone, deaths from

the collectivization and the terror

famine, the executions and the gulag is

probably on the order of 20 million.

I read that and astonishes me in one

sense in another sense it doesn't that

people today still believe in the

ability of humans to create a perfect

world. Once those humans adopt the right

ideology, whatever the right ideology at

the time happens to be, socialism,

communism, bodily autonomy, whatever,

they deride as a child's fantasy and

promise that they and their ideas will

free mankind.

That's not what they deride. That's what

they support. They deride the idea of

God. What they champion is that they

will be able to free mankind.

But when you look at history, regardless

of what spot of history you look at,

religion, social

context, government, it's always the

same story. What always happens

regardless of the philosophy? Peter will

tell you they promise them freedom,

but they themselves are slaves of

corruption. For whatever overcomes a

person,

to that he is enslaved.

And what enslaves them or us destroys

them.

That's happy, isn't it? Let's look at

the father's response. Verses 4-6.

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." When it says he laughs, it

doesn't mean that he's having a fun

time. It means that he is deriding

what's happening. He's seeing this and

he's going, "You have no idea what the

real situation is." And he laughs.

He scoffs. The word is the same thing.

If you remember the story was of Samson

who was the opponent of the uh

Philistines

and he had struck them many times and

finally they captured him by finding out

his secret and cutting his hair and they

had him chained between two uh columns

and they had 3,000 of their leaders

there and they were all mocking him. The

word is the same word there as here.

This time though, God is the one

scoffing.

And when it says, "Then he will speak to

them in his wrath," that's an

interesting word,

it really means flared nostrils like

this guy.

So, it's not talking about some mild

reaction. It's talking about the Lord's

reaction to this idea that people can

throw off his chains and his bonds and

that they can live free and they can

create a better society on their own.

That's his reaction.

It's serious.

And it says, "As for me, I have set my

king on Zion,

my holy hill." Who's his king in this

first context? He's talking about

whatever Judah or Israelite king is at

the time. It could be David. It could be

somebody else. But as we get on, you'll

see that this psalm is really about the

coming Messiah to come. That anointed

one. God takes seriously sin.

Whether it's our sin, the sin of

Christians, or sin of people who don't

know the Lord, he takes it seriously. He

doesn't wink at it. He doesn't sweep it

under the rug.

He doesn't say, "Aw, that's okay, you

sweet little devil, you." He doesn't do

that. He takes sin so seriously that his

own son, Jesus, had to die on the cross

to remove sin sentence on us.

But it's easy for us not to take it

seriously because we live with it every

day. It doesn't seem so bad to us. In in

fact, I think most of us tend to rank

our sins. I can't say that I'm free of

this.

There minuscule ones like maybe taking a

lollipop that didn't belong to you.

Or there's petty ones like squirting a

real annoying neighbor's cat with the

hose. Not that I ever did that.

Or medium-sized ones like in court lying

to a judge. Or substantial ones like

committing adultery. or real serious

ones like murder.

Does God rank our sins?

What do you think?

In fact, the Bible does include verses

like Hebrews 10:28-29. Listen to it.

Hebrews 10:28–29

Anyone who has set aside the law of

Moses dies without mercy on the evidence

of one or two or three witnesses, two or

three witnesses, excuse me. How much

worse punishment, notice that term, how

much worse punishment do you think will

be deserved by the one who's trampled

underfoot the son of God and has

profained the blood of the covenant by

which he was sanctified and has outraged

the spirit of grace.

He writes of worse punishment apparently

for a worse sin.

Jesus himself, remember what he said to

Pilate when he was standing before him

to be judged.

Pilate was going to sentence him to be

crucified.

What did Jesus say to him?

He who delivered me over to you has the

greater sin.

John 9:11.

John 9:11

Who handed him over to Pilate? Was

Caiaphas. He committed a greater sin

than Pilate did.

So then there are such things as greater

sins and worse punishment. But here's

the sobering truth, and here's what I

don't want us to forget.

One day, everybody,

anyone I should say, whose name is not

written in the book of life, whether

they're great or small, will be judged

by what is written in God's books.

That's what he calls it in Revelation

20. According to what they had done,

Revelation 202 and 13, I saw the dead,

great and small, standing before the

throne, and books were opened. Then

another book was opened, which is the

book of life. And the dead were judged

by what was written in the books. That

means he's judging them according to

what they had done.

And the sea gave up the dead who were in

it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who

were in them. And they were judged, each

one of them, according to what they had

done. Anyone whose name was not found in

the book of life will be thrown into the

lake of fire. This text says that's

sobering.

And we have only one way to have our

names written in the book of life. And

that is to place our faith in the

crucified and risen son of God, Jesus

Christ, who took the punishment for our

sins on the cross. That's how serious

that thing was. If your name is not in

the book of life,

your complete record of unforgiven sins

will be read out loud and you will be

sentenced accordingly. That's what these

texts are saying.

Now the con while the consequences of

our sins vary by the severity of those

sins, that's true. Even the tiniest of

sins is enough to separate us eternally

from God.

All sin, no matter how small we think it

is, disconnects us from God. That is why

James says this in James 2:10, "Whoever

James 2:10

keeps the whole law but fails in one

point has become guilty of all of it."

Why is that true? It's true because God

is absolutely holy and he cannot allow

sin in his presence. One sin is enough

to keep us from that presence which is

why Jesus had to die. And when you place

your faith in him, all of your sins are

taken away. So when you stand before

God, you will not have any sin on you.

Our guilt results in our eternal death.

As Paul wrote, Romans 6:23, the first

Romans 6:23

part of it, the wages of sin is death.

Now, don't skip over that part too

quickly.

How does God respond to sin? Psalm 2

tells us with wrath and fury that

terrifies everyone who receives it.

God's divine wrath intensifies when

those sins are committed against his

holy son Jesus the Messiah. But thank

God, and this is the turning of this

text,

that's not the end of the story.

Aren't you glad I only read the first

part of Romans 6:23? Here's the second

Romans 6:23

half.

But the free gift of God is eternal life

in Christ Jesus our Lord. How do you or

I receive that gift? Through faith.

It's the only way.

Now look at the third part. The son's

destiny. Verses 7-9.

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 a potter's vessel."

The first reference again there is to

whatever king of Israel was on the

throne when this thing was written. It's

perhaps David himself. We don't know. We

do know that several times in scripture

the Lord called Solomon, David's son, my

son. He never used that term of David,

but he did of Solomon in several

passages. There's four of them.

God promises to make the nations, again,

the Gentiles that surround them, the

heritage of his son, and to make the

ends of the earth his possession. Those

things clearly look ahead to the son of

David, the Messiah. Not who was ever on

the throne at the time it was written,

but that one that is really in mind

centuries later. That's what it's really

about. The Messiah, Jesus. Isaiah hinted

at this. Isaiah

uh next next one 2 and three. It shall

come to pass in the latter days that the

mountain of the house of the Lord shall

be established as the highest of the

mountains and shall be lifted up above

the hills and all the nations, same

word, shall flow to it, and many peoples

shall come and say, "Come, let us go up

to the mountain of the Lord, to the

house of the God of Jacob, that he may

teach us his ways, and that we may walk

in his paths." Do you see how that is

the exact opposite of how this psalm

started? Let's break their bonds. Let's

forget what they say. They're asking

that they may be taught his ways that

they can walk in his paths. For out of

Zion shall go forth the law and the word

of the Lord from Jerusalem.

Daniel made it explicit. Daniel is uh

century or two later. He says, "I saw in

the night visions and behold with the

clouds of heaven there came one like a

son of man." That's his code word for

Jesus. And he came to the ancient of

days and was presented before him. By

the way, before we move on, if you don't

know this, when he says, "One came like

a son of man," that was the most common

phrase that Jesus used of himself, and

it comes directly from this passage.

"And to him was given dominion and glory

and a kingdom that all peoples," how

many peoples?

All peoples, nations, and languages

should serve him. His dominion is an

everlasting dominion, which shall not

pass away, and his kingdom one that

shall not be destroyed. And now the

revelation pictures it. Next one. Then

the seventh angel blew his trumpet and

there were loud voices in heaven saying,

"The kingdom of the world has become the

kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ."

Christ is just the Greek word for

Messiah. And he shall reign forever and

ever.

The thing that's so interesting to me is

that this identification of the Messiah

that I'm talking about today is made

even more clear by reference to breaking

these rebels with a rod of iron. Did you

remember that?

Here we see in Isaiah 11 1-4,

there shall come forth a chute from the

stump of Jesse, meaning Jesus, and he

shall strike the earth with what? The

rod of his mouth, and with the breath of

his lips, he shall kill the wicked.

Here's Revelation 2:27, 12:5, and 19:15.

Revelation 2:27

And he will rule them with a rod of

iron. Who's that? Jesus. as when earth

and pots are broken in pieces, even as I

myself have received authority from my

father. Next one, she gave birth,

meaning she's talking about Mary, gave

birth to a male child, Jesus, who is to

rule all the nations with a rod of iron.

Last one, from his mouth, that is from

the mouth of Jesus, 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 wine press of

the fury of the wrath of God the

Almighty. Do you hear echoes of Psalm 2

there? That's intentional.

What was prophesied centuries before and

hasn't happened yet will happen.

That breaking and the dashing in pieces

again reveals the deep wickedness of

unredeemed human hearts.

All of ours.

Unless we come to faith in Jesus.

Neither years nor decades nor centuries

nor millennia have any power to liberate

human beings of their radically sinful

natures. It's just not possible.

Only the son of God can accomplish that.

Those who refuse his offer of life and

peace and joy and blessing have only his

rod to look forward to. And the

psalmist, here's the thing, does not

want that for anyone.

That is not the future he wants for

anybody in this room. That is not the

future he wanted for anybody in the

world. That will be the future if their

sins are not taken care of. But that is

not what he wants. Isaiah 11:9-10

Isaiah 11:9–10

pictures the glorious future time when

Jesus will come and rule on earth as the

king of king and lord and lords. Anyone

who wants to experience this, anybody

who wants this can experience it. Here

it is. They shall not hurt or destroy in

all my holy mountain. For the earth

shall be full of the knowledge of the

Lord as the waters cover the sea. In

that day, the root of Jesse, again,

that's Jesus, who shall stand as a

signal for the peoples. Of him shall the

nations inquire, and his resting place

shall be glorious. Now, let me ask a

question.

How far do the waters cover the sea?

It's kind of a weird phrase.

How far do the waters cover the sea?

Anybody want to guess?

>> All of it. It's the same thing.

Is there any place where water doesn't

cover the sea? No. They're synonymous.

Isaiah is giving us here a beautiful

picture of the complete absolute total

all-encompassing reign of Jesus the

Messiah which is coming.

Many places in our world still lack

knowledge of Jesus. He says it's going

to be all over the world. In many other

places the knowledge of Jesus is

attacked or banned or violently opposed.

But the day is coming when the earth

shall be full of the knowledge of the

Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Will you see that day? You can if you

want it.

Last section, verse four, verses 10-2.

Here's his summation. Here's his um

plea.

Now therefore, O kings, be wise. Be

warned, O rulers of the earth. And by

the way, that word rulers is really the

word judges. He has in mind anybody

who's in authority.

Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice

with trembling. Kiss the son. Here's the

kissing.

Lest he be angry and you perish in the

way, for his wrath is quickly kindled.

Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

So now based on what the psalmist knows

is coming, he pleads with kings and

rulers and judges and us

to be wise. Why? So that they can

prosper and to correct whatever might

need to change in their lives so they

can thrive. If they're among the rebels,

if they've tried to free themselves of

Messiah's rule, he begs them to change

their ways.

That is not a way with the future.

We might call this repentance.

He urges them to stop going in their

self-destructive direction and instead

start moving in step with the Messiah

toward life and wholeness and joy.

Now, I wonder if whoever wrote this

psalm, and we don't know for sure. It

says of David, but that doesn't

necessarily mean David wrote it.

Um, I wonder if he maybe heard Jesus'

words in a dream. You know, that happens

even today around the world. We're

getting more and more reports, credible

reports from around the world where

people who are living in regimes where

the gospel is outlawed or banned are

having dreams, where this person shows

up and identifies them as Jesus and

tells them something. Never gives them

the gospel. Interestingly enough, he

always says things like, "In the next

day, you're going to be meeting this

person, talk to them, and that person is

a believer and leads them to faith." So,

we know what happens. It just makes me

wonder if the psalm

if the psalmist heard Jesus' words

in John 7. Close your eyes and try to

picture it.

Here's what John says. On the last day

of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood

up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts,

let him come to me and drink. Whoever

believes in me, as the scripture has

said, out of his heart will flow rivers

of living water. John 7:37-38.

John 7:37–38

Or maybe the writer had a vision in

which he saw Jesus say this from Matthew

Matthew 11:28–29

11:28-29.

Come to me all who labor and are heavy

laden, and 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.

Can open your eyes. That invitation is

for you this morning.

Whether you have already come to faith

in Jesus or not, that is the invitation

to everyone who hears it.

The question is, have you taken refuge

in Jesus the Messiah?

Do rivers of living water flow out of

you?

Have you kissed the sun?

Now, it's interesting when you think of

that word kiss.

There's different kinds of kisses.

The two kisses that I remember the most

from the New Testament are very

different.

The kiss that's probably the most

remembered in the New Testament is the

kiss of Judas. Do you remember that

Judas had been a disciple of the Lord

and he's the one who betrayed him? And

how did he betray him? He told the

people who were going to take him when

they come to the garden, I will go up to

this guy and whoever I kiss, that's the

guy. Now, it's interesting because in

Hebrew culture, a kiss was a sign of

respect.

It was a sign of submission. It was a

sign of honor. And Judas chose to use

that sign

to betray Jesus.

It's possible for us to do that.

But there's another kind of kiss, too.

Luke tells this story about Jesus is

invited into the house of a Pharisee.

The Pharisee really just wants to see

how he can maybe find something wrong in

this guy. And it's normal when you came

into a Jewish home, especially one that

was better off like this guy's, that

they wash your feet and they greet you

with a kiss. And Jesus came in and the

guy didn't do any of that. They all sat

down at the meal. And this woman, who

Luke only describes as a sinful woman,

and everybody in the town knew it, came

in and she's weeping.

And she came to Jesus and she wet his

feet with her tears. She wiped his feet

with her hair and she kept kissing his

feet.

That's a very different kind of kiss.

Luke tells us that the Pharisee sees

this and his thought is not, "Look how

that woman loves him. It's if this guy

were a prophet, he'd know who's kissing

him. It's a sinful woman. He shouldn't

be anywhere near her." And Jesus

says,"Simon, I have something to tell

you." He says, "Tell me, Jesus." He

says, "I came to your house and you did

not greet me with a kiss. I came to your

house and you did not wash my feet. Yet

this woman since the time she has

arrived has not stopped kissing my feet,

wetting them with her tears, and washing

them with her hair. Therefore, I tell

you that her sins that are many have

been forgiven."

That's a fascinating story.

The kiss told all the difference.

That woman kissed his feet because she

knew what he could do for her. Simon

didn't bother because he didn't think he

could.

Have you kissed the sun?

The church we're going to now up in

Salem is a small church, not much bigger

than this one. There's a guy there by

the name of Scott who was their speaker

at a men's breakfast that I went to a

little bit while ago. And Scott is a

great guy. He's a he's a fun guy. He's

full of life. He's always pleasant. He's

one of their greeters. And they asked

him to speak because I didn't know this,

but he has been struggling with cancer

for the last year and a half to two

years. He's had some serious surgery,

some serious um oncology treatments, and

he's still not in the clear.

You would not know it hearing him speak.

And it wasn't a show. He was talking all

about how life in Jesus can be fabulous

and tremendous and he can talk about him

to people and even his cancer has given

him an opportunity to speak to people

and that whole room lit up with his

talk. Why?

Because he has kissed the sun in the

same way that this woman kissed his feet

and not in the way that the Pharisee

did.

Let me close like this.

Did you know that horror movies often

preserve an echo of the gospel?

Did you know that

horror movies often preserve an echo,

remember I said an echo of the truth

about God? John Piper, who's one of my

authors, that's him there, um, makes

that claim, and I believe he's probably

right. I edited five books by John uh

starting with Desiring God, which was

way back in 1986,

40 years ago.

Um, in a much more recent column for his

ministry website, he commented on this

very verse, Psalm 2 11, serve the Lord

with fear and rejoice with trembling.

And I want to close with this because I

really like this. Here's what he said.

Fear does not rob us of our joy for two

reasons.

One is that it drives us to Christ where

there is safety.

The other is that even when we get

there, the part of fear that Christ

relieves is the hope destroying part.

But he leaves another part, the part we

want to feel forever. There is an awe or

a wonder or a trembling in the presence

of the grandeur that we want to feel so

long as we are sure it will not destroy

us.

This trembling does not compete with

joy. It is a part of joy. People go to

terrifying movies because they know the

monster cannot get into the theater.

Do you think anyone would go see the

Predator if an actual Predator came in

there?

People go to terrifying movies because

they know the monster cannot get into

the theater. They want to feel scared so

long as they are safe.

For some reason, it feels good.

This is an echo of the truth that they

were made for God. Get that

there is something profoundly satisfying

about being frightened in quotes when we

cannot be hurt. And it is the best when

the trembling comes from the grandeur of

holiness.

You see what he's saying?

The adventure of life with faith in

Christ

can fill you with exactly that kind of

fear and trembling that he talks about

in Psalm 2. But it's not a bad thing.

It's not something that you want to rush

away from. It's something that you know

is real and that it's on your side.

When we have that kind of conviction,

when we delight in that kind of fear and

trembling in the presence of an almighty

holy God who holds our lives in his

hands and yet who has said because you

have placed your faith in my son,

nothing will ever reach you eternally,

you are mine and you will never be taken

from my hand.

When you have that kind of confidence,

there is nothing in this world

ultimately that can frighten you. If you

look at the history of martyrs

throughout the Christian faith, that's

what you will see.

They knew Jesus' words that says the

worst they can do is take your life.

After that, they can't do anymore. And

they know that what's after is life

eternal with him. Do you know that

fear and trembling can be a wonderful

thing as long as you know that the one

who has the ability to bring it to you

forever is on your side and will never

allow anything to harm you.

Let's pray.

Our father, I thank you for this text.

I thank you that is not one of those

texts that maybe fills us with

um delight because it's all roses and

sunny,

but that it's

a little bit

like a horror film

in that it talks about a kind of anger

and ferocity and

rage

that we will never have to feel

if we have placed our lives by faith in

the loving care of Jesus, the anointed

one, the Messiah.

Father, I pray that you would give us

who know you

the courage,

the bravery, and the boldness to live

for you. Not in a nasty kind of way,

not in a way that demeans other people

for the sin that they're involved with,

but that we would live in such a way

that would say that does not have to

overcome you anymore.

You may think I'm teaching fantasies,

but I know it's real.

I would love for you to experience what

it means to have genuine life in Jesus

and life in his name. Father, I pray

that you would help all of us who know

you to move in that direction to become

more bold for you because our love for

you has grown and because we understand

you more and more as we look into your

word. I pray these things in Jesus name.

Amen.