If you would turn in your Bibles now to Psalm 2. Psalm 2, and I’ll be reading the whole thing. This, of course, is in relation to, or because, we have been going through Daniel, Daniel 2 and Daniel 7, and really Daniel, the whole of it, is focused on this very thing, the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, this King, whose kingdom shall, is everlasting. This stone that crushes other kingdoms as we read in Daniel 2. Psalm 2, but before we hear from the Lord, let’s ask his blessing upon the preaching and the hearing and the reading of that word. Let’s pray. Oh Lord, our maker and our redeemer, you are our comforter. Lord, we are assembled in your presence now to hear this, your word. And Lord, we pray that as we do, that you would open our hearts by your spirit, that through the preaching of your word, we may be taught to repent of our sins, to believe in Jesus in life and in death, and to grow day by day in grace and holiness. Father we sit before you and as your people we ask speak for your servants are listening. Yes, Lord We pray that meditations of our hearts would be pleasing in your sight at this time as we receive your word with the posture of grace and eagerness and anticipation And we ask they would hear us now for Christ’s sake and all God’s people said Amen. Amen. Psalm number two Psalm 2, please give your full attention once more. This is the reading. This is the word of our God. 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 the anointed, 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. He shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a 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. So for the reading of God’s word, may he indeed add his blessing upon it. As I said, we’re in Psalm 2 this morning, as we just read. And I thought it appropriate, given our sermon series in Daniel. It will help set the scene for the Son of Man that we will talk about more next week from the second half of Daniel 7. And again, as I said, Daniel 7, and much of Daniel speaks of this king, the one who has no earthly competitors, whose kingdom has no rivals, one whose kingdom is everlasting. And we notice that Psalm 2, as we look at it, is one of those psalms that has meaning in multiple layers or horizons. Psalm 2 is one of the most quoted psalms in the New Testament, as we’ve seen thus far. And so we have an inspired commentary in the New Testament to tell us more fully what this psalm means. And as we look at this psalm, we see that it has four stanzas, three verses each. 12 verses in all. And we’ll look at the two layers or horizons now, this morning. First, we’ll look at the horizon, the level in its original context, right? What was the original meaning of this Psalm? What is it that David meant as he wrote Psalm 2? And then second, we’ll look at it as the divine commentary from the New Testament, right? That is, as Christians, As we read the Psalm, Psalm 2, we read it through the lens of the New Testament, right? How it’s used, right? So the original context and then the divine commentary. What is the fuller meaning as we understand it today, especially in light of the coming of Christ? Okay, so first let us look at each section of these stanzas in light of its original meaning. As we can see from Psalm, from verses one to three, right, what does it say? The nations and the kings are taking their stand against the Lord and against His appointed anointed servant, right, His anointed one. The nations rage. And David begins and he’s dumbfounded. He’s amazed by this, by this rejection of God and His rule, that it is absurd, it is insane, it is senseless. And David thinks about, and he ponders the kings, ponders about the kings and the people of the earth and the nations. And he sees that these rulers are coming together. Why, what are they coming together for? What is the reason? It’s through gathering together, conspiring against God to resist him. And they’re saying to themselves, as we read, let us break off these chains, let us throw off these things which bind us. And David says, why, why this hostility? This is not wise, this is utterly in vain in verse one. And it is vain. And these nations and these kings should acknowledge God for who he is, right? The true and the living God, the creator of all things, mighty and powerful, holy and just. It should be a no brainer, right? He is sovereign. and they should submit and subject themselves to his universal reign. Like Egypt had to learn this lesson. He’s not a God to be trifled with, right? He is almighty, he is all powerful, and he’s demonstrated that throughout history. So they should learn that lesson, even as Egypt had to learn that lesson. Like nation after nation had to learn this lesson. Like Jericho and the Amorites and the Philistines all had to learn this lesson. He is the almighty and all-powerful sovereign. And David is amazed that these nations act so violently against Israel and against Israel’s kings and therefore against God himself. But notice in verse two what he says, this rebellion is not only against the Lord, but it’s against his anointed, right? Anointed. And that’s a word there that I’m sure that you all are familiar with. If you know a handful of Hebrew words, this is one of them, right? We know this word. It’s mashiach, or Messiah. And you know the wording in Greek also. It’s the word Christ. It’s that word that refers to this one who’s been dedicated by God and dedicated to God, consecrated by God, the one who’s to serve God, the ones who’s to serve for God. Remember that it’s not only kings that we see in the New Testament. I’m sorry, in the Old Testament. It’s not just kings, but the prophets and the priests also were anointed with oil, right? They were anointed, set apart. This refers to the fact that this person was blessed by God and set apart by God, by God’s spirit, typified or pictured in the anointing pouring over the individual. And this was God’s presence and favor and blessing that were poured out upon this chosen one. That is what’s rebelled against, that David is so aghast that it’s going on. To rebel against the Lord’s chosen one is to rebel against the Lord. And so these neighboring nations, are not only resisting another nation or a geopolitical entity, Israel, and they’re not merely resisting God’s people or God’s king in Israel, King David, but they’re resisting the Lord himself. They’re resisting the Lord himself who is the true and the living God. Well, how does the king of heaven respond to this rebellion? In the first stanza, we see the nation’s rage, right? In the second stanza, verses four to six, we see the Lord responds, right? The nation’s rage, but the Lord responds, and he responds to this rebellious and lesser kings in a number of ways. First, he laughs at them and scoffs at them, it says. Now, we laugh for different reasons. We laugh for different reasons. Sometimes we laugh because we find something funny or humorous. Sometimes we laugh because we are nervous. If we’re uncomfortable, we know the phrase, uncomfortable laughter. We don’t know what to do, and so we laugh reflexively, subconsciously. Anxious or nervous laughter. At other times, we laugh because someone has said something so utterly ridiculous. And that’s what God’s doing here. It’s a laugh of mockery. Here it’s not a joke. There’s not something funny that he’s laughing at. God doesn’t find this humorous. He’s not nervous. What these nations are saying and doing is outlandish and preposterous and offensive. And in response, the Lord God laughs and mocks their mockery and he scorns their scorn. And then secondly, he responds in this way, in his wrath and fury, and he says what? He says, I have set my king in Zion, my holy hill. Remember Zion, it’s his very special place, right? It’s where the temple is. And he has crowned his king David in the city of David, Mount Zion, and he’s angry with anyone who would resist and defy and deride him. And so God has put his anointed king up against these lesser kings. But what does that mean? That the nations rage and the Lord responds, and then the third stanza, we see the king’s rule. The rule of the king, we’re told in verses seven to nine, this adopted, appointed kings about this king’s rule. And this enthroned king speaks and tells us things that God revealed to him and told him. And we find out that this enthronement, right, this regal ceremony, this coronation of this king is actually a form of adoption. It’s a form of adoption. In verse seven, he says, you are my son, and today I have become your father. And David is set apart as a son of God, a son to God. In all of his family line, God will see them as sons. And so David and his children were seen as sons to God, as endeared sons, if they would obey his covenant, the covenant set before them, before him. And this king is not just some kind of formal position. It’s not just a political thing. This king enters into a special relationship with God and he receives the many blessings because of the special relationship. And these very nations, that are resisting him will eventually become what? His inheritance. And the ends of the earth will become his possessions, and he will rule them with authority and with finality. And he will dash them to pieces that they continue to resist him. And David is saying that God will continue to expand his territory, right? And this indeed is the picture and the goal of all of history, from creation to beginning, the expansion of the people of God. until the whole globe is temple, right? It’s the temple of God and God’s people under God’s rule and God’s place. And in David’s day, this is exactly what happens to Israel in its farthest limits, right? Think of the heights of the Solomonic kingdom and all the land and the opulence and the wealth. And so what’s the lesson here? In verses 10 to 12, we come to a conclusion. And the Lord does what? He summons the kings and these rulers of the nations, and he says two things to them. And this is the fourth stanza. The Lord gives them a warning, and he gives them an invitation. Verse 10, O kings, be wise. Be warned, O rulers of the earth. Why? It’s because they’re gathering together to conspire, to plot against the Lord and against his anointed one. And if they continue to resist, he will rule them with an iron scepter. And he will rule them and dash them to pieces and destroy them. That’s the warning. But there’s a solution. There’s a solution here. And that solution comes by way of invitation. It says in verse 11, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. bow before him, come to this one true and living God. While there is still time and come in the right attitude, come in fear and trembling with reverence and rejoicing. And he says, kiss the sun, kiss the sun. And the sun here is the anointed, right? Whom he was speaking of earlier, the anointed. And to kiss the sun is what? It’s an act of worship. It’s an act of worship. One version says, do homage to the sun, right? That’s not a word that we use very often, but it means the same thing, to do homage, to kiss the sun, an adoration, an act of worship. It’s the same thing to kiss someone is an act of adoration, right? We see this in English royalty, right? It’s foreign to us because we’re not, English, but when you greet the queen, right, you kiss the ring. It’s an act of respect and even adoration. We’ve all seen this in, whether in books or movies, we’ll read about it. And so there’s this, there’s a warning and then there’s an invitation, right? Cursed are the nations that refuse this refuge, that scorn this God and this king of kings. but blessing and blessing and blessing and promises of protection and care for those who take refuge in Him. Now that’s something of the original meaning of this psalm, what was going on at the time. But let’s look now, secondly, at the New Testament, right? The divine commentary that we have. As I said, this is a very off-coded psalm, so we have much of a divine commentary to inform us. And we look at the New Testament regarding this particular psalm, we see there’s so much there. There is much there that describes and anticipates and forecasts the work of the Messiah, the work of Christ, this Anointed One. The New Testament shows that Psalm 2 gives us a summary, right? It lays out the work of Christ from his humiliation to his exaltation, right? Humiliation to exaltation. And the New Testament shows that in Psalm 2, we have this compact outline in just 12 verses. A summary of the work of Christ, again, foreshadowed, pictured, proclaimed. Way back then. And basically, the New Testament takes Psalm 2 and uses it in these two different ways, showing Christ’s humiliation and His exaltation. So let’s look for a moment at this commentary on Psalm 2 from the New Testament. Firstly, how the New Testament uses Psalm 2 to talk about the peak of our Lord’s humiliation. Humiliation. And we can look at Acts chapter 4. in order to understand what took place on the cross of Christ. Acts chapter four, beginning verse 23, and we see this section, verses, Acts 4, 23 to 28, speaks about, or looks at Psalm 2. And here what’s going on, you have Peter and John, they’re praying together, they pray, and speaking of God says this. Acts chapter four, verses 23 to 28. Yes, 23. When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. When they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of your father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, why did the Gentiles rage and the people’s plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed. For truly in this city, there were gathered together against you, your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. Right? You can see very clearly in this text that Peter and John are taking this psalm and they’re applying it to the Lord Jesus Christ explicitly. And they’re saying that the kings and the rulers talked about in the psalm against the anointed one are whom? Herod and Pilate. And notice too, they mention the nations and the people and all the Gentiles in Israel who rejected the Lord Jesus Christ. And what they are saying is that together they came and they united against the Lord and against his anointed one, Jesus Christ. And that’s exactly what took place. In Matthew 20, Jesus said that he would be delivered over to the Gentiles to be what? To be mocked, to be mocked and flogged and crucified. And look elsewhere in the gospels. What do we find there? Herod, the religious leaders and the soldiers mocked the Lord Jesus Christ. In Luke 23, 11, it says that Herod, with all of his soldiers, treated Christ with contempt and mocked him. Matthew 27, 29, it says that the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and put a reed in his hand and knelt before him and mocked him and said, hail, king of the Jews. Mark 15, it says that the chief priests and the scribes mocked him as he hung from the cross, saying, he saved others, but he cannot save himself. And as he is hanging upon the cross, we read in Luke 23, 36, that the soldiers mocked him and offered him sour wine. And as we look at the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, on the one hand, it is certainly a dark hour. Here is the Son of God, the eternal Son of God, throughout His earthly ministry, by and large, having His teaching rejected. His miracles are dismissed by those who should have recognized and accepted them. And we have these people and groups coming together and conspiring against Jesus because of their envy and their hatred and their wickedness. And it’s those religious leaders who out of great bitterness and envy put an end to this anointed one. They thought, they thought. And remember that greatly offensive manner in which the Lord Jesus began his ministry. He said, the spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has appointed me to preach good news. That was his great offense. He brought them good news. And it’s Israel who refused to adore God’s king, God’s anointed. And at the low point of their rejection of the Lord Jesus, in the high point of offense and affront to God, they say what? Remember Pilate, he says, behold your king. And they replied, shockingly, we have no king but Caesar. And at the cross, Satan believes that he has finally broken the chains of God, and he’s defeated, and finally cast off this Great One, the Greater One, this Son of God. But how does the Lord respond? How does He respond to this rejection, the rejection of His Holy One? At the cross, at the pinnacle of our Savior’s humiliation, What does God do but scoff at evil’s brief scorn of this humbled, anointed one? Because even at the cross, it’s not so much a triumph of evil, but it’s the plan of God, that things are coming together exactly as he has determined them to come together and come to pass. Look again at Acts 4, 27 and 28. They gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. All of these parties come together and conspire against God and against His anointed one, but there is something deeper taking place here, something wider. They are simply pawns in the hands of God. carry out exactly what He had planned to take place for the redemption of His people whom He loved and set His love upon before they were created. The cross is not the binding of God. Rather, it is that plan of God that cannot be broken or thwarted. Satan thought he had outmaneuvered God, but he was only doing what God had planned. We remember famously, and you children who’ve read this will remember this, and you adults who’ve read this to your children will remember this as well, in the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, right? It’s a great series by C.S. Lewis. This is what happens, right? The white witch thought she was defeating Aslan, right, the Christ figure. She thought that she had got him, and that it was victory for her. but there was a deeper wisdom that she didn’t know and she did not see. And of course, this story, these illusions are taken directly from the actual history of redemption. And this is what we see here in the text, right? Satan and all the emissaries of darkness think that they can carry out this great triumph over God. but are only carrying out what God had determined to take place. And these leaders and these peoples and these nations are simply doing what God decreed beforehand would happen. And so it is through the cross that God is mocking and he laughs at the power pretended of Satan and all those who conspire against his son, who resist his will. And we read in Colossians 2.15, it says this very explicitly. Having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. And so on the cross of Christ, God embarrasses the powers of darkness, mocking their scorn and their vain resistance against Him and against His Son, His anointed, our King. And the cross is God’s moment of triumph. not defeat. The cross is God’s winning and defeating and conquering and saving because he loves his people and it must take place. So we see in Psalm 2, in the New Testament, Christ’s humiliation. But notice also that this son of his who dies in humiliation is raised in exaltation.” Raised in exaltation, right? That’s not the end of the story. He was raised in exaltation. And at the Mount of Transfiguration, remember, the voice that comes to him, that comes, excuse me, There are these instances that we see. And the New Testament uses Psalm 2 to highlight Christ’s exaltation. The exaltation takes us from his resurrection to his return, his coming again. And these are two distinct aspects of that exaltation that Psalm 2 highlights according to the New Testament, his resurrection and his return. First, the resurrection of Christ. It’s the resurrection of Christ that shadows the unequaled greatness of God’s power in his Son. And notice how it’s given to us. Again, throughout the life of Christ, right, these punctuated instances, a voice from heaven comes and says, you are my son with whom I am well pleased. At his baptism, the voice comes, you are my son. At the Mount of Transfiguration, this is my son whom I love. Listen to him. And notice what scripture says as it looks back upon the resurrection and reflects on it in use of Psalm 2. Psalm 13, 32, that what God promised our fathers, he has fulfilled for us by raising up Jesus as it is written in the second Psalm, right? You are my son, today I have begotten you. Or Hebrews 1, after he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven. So he became so much superior to the angels as his name that he inherited is superior to theirs. For to which of his angels did he ever say, you are my son, today I have begotten you. And you see what the New Testament is saying, right? We see it. It looks at Psalm 2, and it says, this enthronement, this exaltation to glory at the right hand of God, it’s adoption. It’s this new phase of sonship unto which Christ enters. Now for sure, we know and we must affirm that Christ has always been the Son of God, always, right? Eternally begotten. And though Jesus is divine, is eternal and divine, the divine son of God, the declaration of redemptive sonship is prophesied in Psalm 2, verse 7. And it was conferred on him in time when he completed his messianic work, right, earning our salvation. And so the father, with pride and love in his heart, is looking to him and he’s saying, this is my son. And Romans tells us in chapter one, Christ is declared with power to be the son of God by his resurrection from the dead. And so the New Testament sees Psalm 2 telling of Christ’s exaltation in his resurrection. But also, the New Testament shows us that Psalm 2 speaks also, not just of his resurrection, but of his return. Psalm 2 anticipates the end of the end, the end of the end, and it shows that this is the king of king who rules with authority and with power, not just now, but ultimately when he returns on the great day of the Lord. And it’s on that great day of the Lord at the judgment to come and Christ will show his absolute rule and his absolute sovereignty once and for all. And we look into the book of Revelation and how it shows the greatness of that exalted glory of Christ who will come and rule and judge. And where do you think it goes to do that, to make these points? It goes back to Psalm 2. Revelation 12 and Revelation 21, they say that Christ will rule all the nations with an iron scepter, and the kingdoms of the earth will become the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they, it says, will bring their glory into that great city, the heavenly mountains Zion. And it looks upon the judgment. Revelation 19 says that Christ will judge. And it says that out of his mouth will come a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter, right? A rod of iron. It says he treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God, the Almighty. And on his robe and thigh, he has a name written, King of Kings, Lord of Lords. So brethren, it says we look at these things in Psalm 2, when we look at them, These things that are instructive and glorious and also severe and serious. We see that Psalm 2 expresses so clearly, not just the humiliation of Christ, but the exaltation of the Lord Jesus. And so we look and need to think of how these things press in upon our lives. This isn’t simply grand high theology, right? This isn’t just lofty description of things that we find in scripture, of these truths of scripture. These are matters of which there’s no greater importance or significance, right? Even in our lives. And so as we conclude, I want us to take away a number of things. And the first is this, that it’s so critical and obvious, right? Do not resist the Lord. Do not resist the Lord. Do not try to break the chains of God’s almighty sovereignty. Do not try to throw off the Lord or His ways. It is futile. It is dangerous. Psalm 2 is boldly declaring to you of this senselessness, this futility, this vanity to resist this King and His power and His glory and His wisdom and His truth. But sadly in rebellion, many resist, many resent God’s commandments and His call on their lives. And they see them as merely burdens on their lives. We all know people like this and it’s sad. Even we have pockets of this remaining in our lives, in our weakness, in our sinfulness. And they hear about scripture and that it tells us that we are to worship only this one true living God. It tells us to honor and obey our parents. It tells us to be sexually pure. It tells us not to lie or steal or covet, not to pursue unbelievers in relationships. It tells us that we are to put others ahead of ourselves. And they hear these things, and how do they respond? Many, many people. They say, this is intolerable. This is ridiculous. This is oppressive. And Scripture tells us why this is so. John 3 tells us that the reason people hate the light of God’s truth is because they love darkness. They love darkness. They love the deeds of darkness. They don’t want to be exposed by the light, so they hate it. People defy God, and they think little of God. And if they speak of God, it’s in defiance of Him, in rebellion against His law, against His anointed one, in derision, in hate. And they simply want Him to go away. And to us, this is horrifying. It’s horrifying because we know the truth and we know Psalm 2. And though they want him to go away, he’s not going away. In fact, he’s coming again. And that’s part of Psalm 2’s message. Don’t resist him. It’s not a game. It’s not a joke. And if you’ve not pled his mercy and answered his call on your life, today is the day. Today is the day. It’s not a joke. It’s life or death. It’s a serious business. It is a blessing or it is judgment, right? So the psalm says, kiss the son. Flee to Christ for life, for forgiveness of your sins, of your guilt, of your failings and weakness and brokenness. Come to him and taste the refreshing waters of the gospel of life, the water of life. If you have submitted and fled to this anointed King Jesus, You flee to Him as well. Flee to Him again and again. He is your life. He is your peace. He is your light in the world. Flee to Him and grow in Him as He feeds us in His word and in the supper. And praise Him, brothers and sisters. Praise Him. Praise befits the great King in whom we have life. Don’t resist Him is the first thing we see. Come to him, right? Don’t resist him, but come to him. And that’s the second thing we ought to see in Psalm 2, that it’s a summons to come. It’s an invitation. It’s a call to come, to come and to kiss the king and to adore the anointed one of God. God looks and he says, this is my son. This is my anointed one. This is my king, who is the king of all kings. He’s not like any other king. And Psalm 2 makes it clear that it’s a personal offense to God that he takes it as such when people reject and scoff at this most wonderful and generous gift. Scripture tells us this king is the stone that the builders rejected. But this stone is the precious cornerstone of God, and you don’t disregard it without grave consequences. He is that divinely cut, not with human hands, kingdom-crushing stone we read about in Daniel. And yet the world in all of its pretended but false brilliance looks at the cross and smugly says what? That’s weak, that’s dumb, how pathetic, that’s foolishness. When in fact, what is it? God has made it clear that at the cross, that the cross is the wisdom and the power of God. It’s amazing that people reject such a generous gift. It’s unbelievable. But you know, we too would be among them. We’re not for God’s grace, right? We’re not for God’s grace. We too would see it as foolishness. And it’s astounding that this summons is still one of an invitation and not merely an ultimatum. So for the sake of the lost, praise God that it continues to be an invitation. And if you love Jesus and you’ve committed your life to him, you still have loved ones who have not done so. We’ve all lost the ones that we’ve loved. And when we do, we grieve. And we are stricken again and reminded again of the reality of death. And that those whom we love may not love the Lord whom we serve. And we praise God that he is long suffering and that he holds out life for all that would come. We don’t know the secret plans of God. But brothers and sisters, I plead with you to pray for those lost loved ones while time yet remains. Make it a point to regularly pray for them. Pray for them and pray that God would work in you, right? To witness with your lips, yes, but also with your lives of the love you’ve been shown in Christ. And in all of it, trust Him, brothers and sisters, trust Him. We don’t know His secret plans, but we do know that He is good, that He is merciful, and that He is holy, and that He is just. And if you’ve not come to Him, come and find refuge in this chosen one of God, chosen by God. That day is coming, it has not yet arrived. And so this still is a day of salvation. There’s nowhere else to go. There’s no one else to whom we can find shelter. He is our protector, brothers and sisters. He is our shield. He is our mighty fortress and our sanctuary. In him there is life. We who have trusted in Christ know full well that we deserve the fury of God’s wrath, but it’s in Christ that we find refuge. Christ does this at Calvary when he shelters us from the consuming fire of God’s wrath as he bore the guilt and shame of our sin and all that it deserves. And when the day of the Lord comes, we will not bear that wrath to come because he’s already taken it. No wrath remains for you who belong to him. And that is a wonderful thing. I think you would agree. We undergo many temptations, right, in this life, but we know that He is faithful and He protects us from temptation that is too great for us. And you and I know ourselves that we are weak and we ache and we grieve, but Scripture tells us what? His grace is sufficient for you and that His power is made perfect in such weakness. Let us flee to Christ. Let us flee to Christ again for the first time or afresh. Let us go to the Savior, this anointed one of God, this Lord over all lords and King of kings. And when you’re mocked and scorned and weak and in suffering and disbelief and doubt that we all go through, and when your world, it seems, is turning in on you and against you, to find shelter under the shadow of these wings of his unfailing love. And so let us, dear Christians, in faithfulness, trust in him. Trust in him and his promises to guard us again and again and again for all of our lives. Psalm 2 tells us without ambiguity, it is vain to reject and defy God. It is foolishness to mock him. Praise Him that He’s granted to you to answer that summons, to come and to kiss this glorious Son for your lives. And this is not in vain, because in that great day of our Lord, there will be no refuge from Him, only refuge in Him. And so let us continue to trust Him, to rest, to live our lives in adoration and security of this Son, and let us delight with fear and trembling in this anointed one, the only one in whom life is found. Amen. Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for your protection in our lives and for our beloved Savior who gave his life for our sins and rose again for our justification. for accomplishing our redemption. Father, we pray that you would continue to strengthen us and to protect us in this world. Help us to know and to believe and trust in you. Help us to know that you are our sure refuge and protection and that you are working in us your perfect will and that you are by the gospel conforming us evermore into the image of your son. We ask, Lord, that you would continue to bless this church. Lord, help us to be thoughtful and faithful as we move into the future. Lord, give us big eyes and big expectations. Lord, help us to be faithful. Help us to be contented. Lord, use us, we pray. Give us hearts that long for your glory. In Jesus’ name, we pray all these things, amen.