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[0:00] This morning, our text is Psalm chapter 2. If you don't have a Bible, there are Bibles in the pews that you may use.

[0:22] If you don't own a Bible, please take that copy of God's Word home with you today in our hopes you'll continue to be reading the Word of the Lord. But right now, would you stand with me as we honor the reading of God's Word together again? Psalm 2.

[0:39] Why do the nations rage and the people's 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.

[0:56] He who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrifying them in his fury, saying, As for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.

[1:11] And 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.

[1:23] You 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.

[1:34] 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.

[1:45] Blessed are those who take refuge in him. May God add a blessing to the reading of his word. Would you please be seated? I trust that many of you, whether you grew up in the church or not, are familiar with the birth story of Jesus Christ.

[2:05] Every year, here at Highland Park, our Iwana kids put on a Christmas pageant retelling the events recorded in Matthew and Luke's gospel about the incarnation and birth of Jesus.

[2:19] And every year, some adorable little kid puts on the star costume as they walk down this aisle, and the wise men follow them to the stage to where the manger scene is.

[2:35] Now, I'm about to burst some of your Christmas story bubbles. The wise men didn't see Jesus in the manger the night that he was born.

[2:48] Matthew records that the wise men visited Jesus in a house, not in the manger. And their visit could have occurred sometime after Jesus was born up to maybe the next day, up to two years.

[3:04] The wise men also weren't kings. They were sages or magi. They were astronomers who saw the astrological anomaly in the sky from somewhere in Persia, which could have been anywhere from 500 to 1,200 miles away from Bethlehem.

[3:23] They saw the star and they understood it was a sign from God that a child was born and that this child was special. This child was the king of the Jews.

[3:36] And so they traveled to Jerusalem and they came to the place where the current king of the Jews, King Herod, resided. And they asked him, where is he who was born king of the Jews?

[3:52] For we saw his star when it arose and have come to worship him. This was not a good question to ask a man like King Herod. When you walk into a king's palace and you ask, where is the king?

[4:08] It's going to send alarm bells off in people's minds, especially in the mind and the heart of the person who's currently sitting on the throne. And especially a man, a king like Herod.

[4:24] Matthew tells us that this news about this new king troubled Herod. And as a result of Herod being troubled, he tells us that all of Jerusalem was troubled with him.

[4:36] But people knew that if Herod isn't happy, ain't nobody happy. He was a violent ruler, even by the standards of his time. He killed anyone whom he deemed to be a threat to his throne, including his own family members.

[4:55] And so Herod instructed the wise men to return to him when they found the new king because he said he wanted to go and worship him too. But God warned the wise men not to return to Herod, not to report the location of where Jesus was.

[5:12] Because God knew Herod's heart. He knew his true intentions, which were to murder Jesus and to eliminate this new threat to his throne.

[5:25] Once Herod realized the wise men evaded his plot to put a quick end to his new challenge, to his power, he ordered the execution of every male child in Bethlehem age two years or younger.

[5:42] His evil plan didn't achieve what he had hoped. Joseph was also warned in a dream to take Jesus and Mary and depart into Egypt until Herod's rage subsided.

[5:57] What does that story have to do with Psalm chapter 2? Like Psalm 2, Herod, a ruler, plotted against God and he lost.

[6:11] There is that connection. But on a deeper level, when we consider all Scripture teaches, Herod's reaction to Jesus, in a sense, is a picture of everyone.

[6:30] Everyone, all of us, is born with a desire to do what we want. To say no to things we don't want to do, to disobey, to establish ourselves as king and ruler of our lives.

[6:47] Each of us is born with a selfish, self-centered desire for the world to orbit around us. To be served rather than to serve, to receive worship rather than to give worship, to be in authority rather than submit to another's authority.

[7:07] In Romans 8, 7 through 8, the Apostle Paul says that in our natural state, in our flesh, in our sin, we have hostility towards God.

[7:18] He says, Each of us is born with a sinful desire for God to submit to us, not a God who commands our submission.

[7:41] Each of us in our flesh desires for God to worship us, to agree with us, to accept us on our terms. To accept what we think is our right to captain our own souls and rule in his place.

[7:56] Each of us is born with a little King Herod in our heart that is threatened by anyone or anything that challenges the authority we think that we have over our lives.

[8:08] Psalms 2 conveys a warning from God about resisting his right to rule as sovereign Lord and King over all things.

[8:22] We can look at Psalm 2 as a continuation of Psalm 1. In Psalm 1, if you remember from last week, the blessed man is contrasted with the wicked man. The blessed man prospers walking in the way of the Lord.

[8:34] The wicked man perishes by rejecting the way of the Lord. Psalm 2 reveals more about who the true blessed man is. He is the Son of God whom the rest of Scripture reveals is Jesus Christ.

[8:50] This psalm tells us that God's plans cannot be thwarted. That Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God, cannot and will not be dethroned.

[9:03] It conveys a timeless principle, a theological reality, the eternal fact that those who resist God will lose. And that's the main idea for this morning's sermon.

[9:16] Those who resist God will lose. From Genesis to Revelation, we are constantly reminded that those who resist God, those who reject God, those who rebel against God will lose.

[9:34] Herod lost. The Pharisees lost, though they thought that they had won or were winning as Jesus hung, nailed to a cross. But on the third day, he rose again.

[9:46] The tomb was empty. In fact, all of their plotting and scheming only served to fulfill God's sovereign plan. In my quiet time, I've been reading through the book of Acts, and there's a repeated theme throughout the book.

[10:01] The gospel is proclaimed. Persecution breaks out against Christians. People seek to put an end to the message and the ministry of Jesus' disciples. But all their attempts, all of their persecution, all of the ways that they're trying to stop the gospel from spreading only serves God's purposes to spread the gospel throughout the world as more and more people are being saved, having submitted to the king, the king of kings, Jesus Christ.

[10:36] This psalm warns us that those who resist God will lose. But it also invites us to be wise, like the wise men, to pursue the Lord, to seek him, to worship him, and submit to his divine rule, his divine position as Lord and his divine place on the eternal throne of God.

[11:08] If you're a believer this morning, you have received salvation from God. And if you've been a recipient of his grace, this psalm gives encouragement to you in reminding you that though the nations rage, though it may seem like you are losing or that the cause of Christ is losing in this world, that God is in control.

[11:31] And it reminds you that God wins. And in Jesus Christ, you share that victory. And so I pray that today, as we go through these verses, as we go through this psalm, that God will encourage you even more in your service to the King and that that will increase your joy in knowing that you will not lose because you are in Christ.

[12:02] If you're here this morning and you have not trusted in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, friend, this psalm is a warning to you. If you resist God and reject his invitation to join him through placing your faith in the true King and submitting your life to him, it says to you, God proclaims to you in his word, you will lose.

[12:25] You will lose your life. You will lose everything. You will suffer an eternal defeat. I've prayed for you and I pray that today for those of you that have resisted God to this point that you will turn to him, that you will receive his salvation and the abundant life that comes only through Jesus Christ.

[12:52] Psalm 2 contains four scenes and we're gonna look at each of these scenes and see how they prove the point that those who resist God lose.

[13:05] We'll also see why it is better to receive Jesus as King instead of resisting him as Lord of your life. The first scene comes in verses one through three and that first scene shows us that the nations rebel.

[13:20] The nations rebel. I'm gonna read those verses again. The psalmist opens with the world's rebellion. He says, why do the nations rage and the people's plot in vain?

[13:33] The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers of the earth counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed saying, let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.

[13:46] Here we see the psalmist expressing his amazement in the form of a rhetorical question. It's as if he's saying, how do the nations not realize they don't stand a chance?

[14:02] It's like he's writing these words and shaking his head in disbelief. What a waste of time. In sports, there are upsets.

[14:13] Teams and players have bad days. Sometimes a less talented athlete or team catches a good team on a bad day. Sometimes they find a chink in the armor and they exploit it on their way to victory.

[14:31] One of the greatest upsets in sports that I can remember is when James Buster Douglas knocked out Mike Tyson. Mike Tyson was undefeated.

[14:42] Often his matches wouldn't last more than one round because he'd knock them out. And so here's this guy, James Buster Douglas, a 42-1 underdog doing what seemed to be the impossible at the time, knocking out and beating Mike Tyson.

[15:03] Tyson took that match in Douglas for granted and he was stunned. He was humiliated in his defeat. People have flaws. Even the greatest athlete has a flaw.

[15:16] They have bad days. They get caught off their guard and they lose when they should win. But understand this. God has zero flaws. God has no bad days.

[15:31] He is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. He knows all things, He sees all things, and He has absolute power over all things.

[15:42] All the world, with all of its power, set against God, doesn't stand a chance. They rage in vain.

[15:57] The Hebrew word translated as rage is ragash. It can also be translated as an uproar. To me, this pictures a mob like the crowds, the Pharisees, incited against Jesus.

[16:13] In their hatred of Him, in their anger over His claims to be the Son of God, they went into public fits of rage. The same is true in the book of Acts.

[16:24] Whether it was in Jerusalem, Iconium, Lystra, Philippi, Thessalonica, Corinth, or just about any city or town that Jesus' followers went to to share the gospel, people there raged against their message.

[16:40] But many were saved. No religion faces as much hostility from the world as the Christian faith. Why? Because very simply, our message is true.

[16:55] And our message is offensive. 1 Peter 2, 7 through 8 says, So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

[17:11] And the stone is referring to Jesus. The stone of stumbling in a rock of offense. They stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do.

[17:22] Again, the stone is Jesus and those who reject Him do so willfully. They refuse to admit that their sin is sin. They rebel against the thought of God being an authority over their lives.

[17:35] They don't want Jesus as their Lord so they rage publicly as they plot against Him in secret. The Hebrew word translated as plot is the same word translated in the English as meditate in Psalm 1.

[17:52] It means to mutter or to murmur or to talk under your breath. The blessed man murmurs about God's word. The wicked man mutters and murmurs rebellion against God.

[18:07] Against His anointed. Against His word. And they do this together against Him. Against God's Messiah. His son who again Scripture reveals is Jesus Christ.

[18:21] In His incarnation we saw how the rulers of the Jews joined forces with a ruler from Rome to bring about the death of Jesus Christ.

[18:33] But I believe that this psalm is looking forward to a future day. A day that has yet to come. A future battle when the nations under the influence of Satan led by his Antichrist will make war against God the Almighty.

[18:52] You can read about that in Revelation 16. After a time of great tribulation Revelation 19 tells us how Jesus will return and He will return to establish His kingdom on the earth.

[19:05] I want to read a couple of those passages to you. Revelation 19 11 through 16. Again John the apostle the disciple of Jesus is seeing this vision of things yet to be.

[19:18] He said then I saw heaven open and behold a white horse. The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True and in righteousness He judges and makes war.

[19:29] He's talking about Jesus and His return. His eyes are like a flame of fire and on His head are many diadems and He has a name written that no one knows but Himself.

[19:41] He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood and the name by which He is called is the Word of God. And the armies of heaven arrayed in fine linen white and pure were following Him on white horses.

[19:54] From His mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations and He will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the wine presses of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

[20:14] And then Revelation 19 20 through 21. And the beast was captured and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which He deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped its image.

[20:28] These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur and the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of Him who was sitting on the horse and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.

[20:43] the nations rage. Those who resist God think they can burst His bonds think that they can remove His cords His rule but we've read they don't stand a chance.

[21:05] we understand that those bonds those cords are life-giving to us. They serve as boundaries to keep us from falling to our death.

[21:19] They are cords that keep us tethered to the truth to prevent us from wandering off into danger. The nations rebel but the nations will lose.

[21:32] Verses 4 through 6 record the Father's response. Now we look at those in scene 2. The Father's response. The nations rebel the Father responds.

[21:45] Where is God? While the nations are raging what is God doing as the nations are plotting against Him? Verse 4 tells us He who sits in heaven laughs and He holds them in derision.

[22:05] God is not chewing on His fingernails. He's not wringing His hands. He's not thinking to Himself Oh no! Oh no!

[22:16] What will I do? Why don't they like me? I'm in trouble now. No. He laughs.

[22:28] This is the only place in Scripture where God is said to laugh. And He laughs because He's not threatened at all not even in the least.

[22:43] He doesn't rage. He doesn't take counsel. He doesn't plot. He doesn't need to. He doesn't even stand up. He stays seated because He has nothing to fear.

[23:00] If you've ever parented a child you probably remember a time when they rebelled against you at least once. You told them to stop doing something and they clenched their fists.

[23:18] They scrunched up their face made this ugly face at you. They held their breath and their face was turning red and they looked at you in the eyes.

[23:29] They stood their ground and they said no. No mom. No dad. Now sometimes that's funny as a parent.

[23:41] Sometimes. It's funny for a little bit. you chuckle maybe a little bit to yourself or you cover your mouth or you hide your face to show that you're smirking at them because they really think they stand a chance.

[23:56] They really think that they can get their way. They really think that you're going to listen to them and be like oh no my toddler is raging. What will I do?

[24:08] No. They don't stand a chance. And that's what I see God doing here. The father doing here it's like he's thinking really? You think that this is a good idea?

[24:23] You think that this is going to end well for you? You don't know who you're up against. In Isaiah 40 15 God tells us something about who he is.

[24:39] compared to the nations. Behold the nations are like a drop from a bucket and are accounted as the dust on the scales which aren't heavy enough to move them.

[24:52] Behold he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. God doesn't laugh because the world's rebellion is some kind of silly joke to him. God takes sin seriously.

[25:03] In our sin we spit on his glory. We drag his name in the mud. God our sin has ruined the world. In our sin we desecrate our bodies created in the image of God.

[25:15] God laughs and he holds the nations in derision knowing that those who mock him will in the end be mocked for mocking him.

[25:26] They will be disarmed. They will be put to open shame for rejecting God's gracious offering of salvation through Jesus Christ his son.

[25:40] Colossians 2 15 tells us that the father disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him Jesus Christ who is the son.

[25:53] On the cross it sealed the doom of Satan and those who would join him in his rebellion against God whether they realize they're joining him or not they're on his team.

[26:04] It's tragic that those who mock the cross reject their only hope to be saved from the father's wrath. All of us have sinned.

[26:16] All of us have sinned against God and God is holy. He's perfect. He's completely and totally sinless and because he is holy because he will always do the right thing he will punish sin.

[26:31] because he's perfectly just and God sent his son to atone to cancel the debt our sin incurred.

[26:46] God sent his son motivated by his love for the world. John 3 16 we'll look at that in a little bit but for now those who reject God's son we see have no protection from God's wrath.

[27:05] In verses 5 and 6 again 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.

[27:21] When God speaks his word stands. Pharaoh tried to destroy the Israelites but he ended up caring for one of them Moses in his own palace and Moses eventually led God's people out of Egypt.

[27:39] We see another example in Esther where Haman plotted to destroy God's people the Jews. He built gallows to hang them on but he eventually was hung on them himself.

[27:53] The leaders of Israel put Jesus to death and thought that they had destroyed him that he was done that he was finished instead God used that cross to triumph over sin and to save his people those who resist God lose and Jesus is God's anointed he is king his kingdom since his resurrection continues to expand it continues to advance the father has established his son as king and you cannot have one without the other the nations rebel God responds and now we come to the third scene in verses seven through nine the sun reigns I will tell of the decree the Lord said to me and here we have the son speaking you are my son this is what he hears!

[28:54] 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 son is repeating what he's heard decreed from the father in this scene God's king speaks!

[29:11] His son speaks Throughout! his life on earth Jesus identified himself as God's son his word of God who added a human nature to his divine nature he is Emmanuel God with us as the son of God Jesus perfectly reveals the father Jesus is the second Adam who executes God's will and rule on earth perfectly Jesus asks and the father gives him the nations as his inheritance in his first coming Jesus preached a message of repentance and that's the same message his people preach today repent of your sins turn to God and be saved or perish now let's look at John 3 16 but let's read till verse 21 Jesus telling Nicodemus for

[30:13] God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life for God did not send his son into the world this first time to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him whoever believes in him is not condemned!

[30:35] And this is the judgment the light has come into the world and people love the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil for everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light lest their works should be exposed but whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried!

[31:02] in God Church we are living in the times between Jesus' first and second coming Jesus came first as a suffering servant he will come again as a conquering king in the meanwhile those whom he's graciously saved are called to be his ambassadors called to be ambassadors of the king 2nd Corinthians 5 20 through 21 tells us therefore we are ambassadors for Christ God making his appeal through us we implore you we're warning you who don't believe on behalf of Christ be reconciled to God for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God Jesus reigns he reigns right now and we as believers are his ambassadors whose task whose mission it is to plead for those who resist him to plead that they would repent before it's too late and now we come to the last scene the spirit redirects the spirit redirects in verses 10 through 12 now although the holy spirit isn't mentioned specifically in these verses he is the one who inspired them and it's his task to convict convince!

[32:39] and redirect us from rebellion against God to submission to God God the holy spirit brings a sinner from death to life through faith in Jesus Christ Jesus talked about him in John 16 as he was preparing his disciples for his death and his resurrection and what would happen after that he said nevertheless I tell you it is to your advantage that I go away for if I do not go away the helper and he's talking about the Holy spirit here will not come to you but if I go I will send him to you and when he comes he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment concerning sin because they do not believe in me concerning righteousness because I go to the father and you will see me no longer concerning judgment because the ruler of this world is judged!

[33:41] second coming the Holy Spirit continues this work to convict and convince sinners to turn to God through faith in Jesus Christ to repent of their sins and to trust in Jesus he does this through the word he's inspired and through the witnesses that he's saved Christians part of sharing the gospel the good news requires us to share the bad news warning people about the consequences of their sin the consequences of their resistance of their rejection of their rebellion against God and that's what we read in Psalm 2 10 through 12 now therefore O kings be wise be warned O rulers of the earth serve the

[34:42] Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling kiss the son lest he be angry with you and you perish in the way for his wrath is quickly kindled blessed are those who take refuge in him in other words what he's saying here is turn around repent of your sins and the autonomy and the authority you think you have over yourself turn to God in faith walk in his way or else if you continue down the path that you're on the path of the wicked man which psalm one says it will end in destruction be warned Be wise turn repent believe the kings and the rulers identified in verse two and all believers think that freedom comes from rebelling against God when in actuality the opposite is true sin doesn't bring freedom disobedience to God doesn't bring freedom it brings bondage it brings consequences it ruins people's lives it ruins relationships it ruins family it enslaves people to addiction it deceives people to exchange the truth of

[36:07] God for a lie thinking that there's freedom in all of this but it's slavery only Jesus can set a person free from their sin and from his consequences many of you have been here long enough you've heard my testimony some of you are newer and you haven't I was saved when I was young I was raised in the church by godly parents I went to college and I decided that you know what I want to call my own shots I don't want to go to church I want to do what I want to do and tragically the Lord had called me to ministry when I was 16 and here I was 18 19 thinking ah let me try to live my life my way because I think I'll enjoy it more like the prodigal son in

[37:11] Jesus parable thankfully the Lord brought me to my census and I was miserable I've never been more miserable in my life during that time I remember looking at myself in the mirror and thinking I don't like you I don't like who you are I don't like what you become I hate you I remember going to church one night with my parents and as everybody's head was bowed and as everybody was praying and just the way that God does was reminded of his love of his grace of his mercy and despite how stupid I had been despite the dumb things that I had done he was a father with open arms ready to receive me back home and praise

[38:14] God that he did and I thank God that he's like that nothing has changed between our Lord's first coming and our Lord's second coming there is time there is time to turn to the father and take refuge in the blessed one the blessed man who is Jesus Christ friend maybe you've rejected him and you've rebelled against God and you realize that now maybe maybe you feel today like you're you're where I was back when I was in college what should you do this is how we adjust to what we've read kiss the son kiss!

[39:04] the son in Jesus time a kiss! In first century Israel was not always a romantic expression of love a kiss on the cheek was a common greeting a sign of deep respect showing honor to another if you remember Judas kissed Jesus on the cheek and that was his signal to his captors to let them know this is Jesus this is the one that you're looking for in another instance Luke records an unnamed woman all he says is that she's a sinful woman she has a reputation her sin is out there it's exposed people know that this woman has done very sinful things but she anointed Jesus feet with the most precious thing that she had a costly expensive ointment and she did that after she kissed his feet after she had wet his feet with her tears and this act drew the scorn of Simeon the Pharisee who had invited

[40:25] Jesus to his house and all these things were taking place under his roof and Jesus being God being omniscient he knew Simeon's thoughts and he had something to say to him Luke 7 41-49 record those words Jesus begins with a parable a certain moneylender had two debtors one owed One owed 500 denarii and the other 50 when they could not pay he cancelled the debt of both now which of them will love him more and Simeon answered the one I suppose for whom he cancelled the larger debt and Jesus said to him you have judged rightly then turning towards this sinful woman he said to Simeon do you see this woman I entered into your house you gave me no water for my feet but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair you gave me no kiss but from the time

[41:34] I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet you did not anoint my head with oil but she has anointed my feet with ointment therefore I tell you her sins which are many are forgiven for she loved much but he who is forgiven little loves little and he said to her your sins are forgiven and those who were at table with him began to say among themselves who is this who even forgives sins this is Jesus Christ the son of God this is the king of kings and lord of lords this is the one who is eternal and will reign eternally who has all power and all authority to forgive this woman of all of her sins this woman was not wise in the estimation of the world but she kissed the son she realized who

[42:53] Jesus was and she was willing to make a fool of herself but what she did wasn't foolish at all she was forgiven and she became a daughter of the king and she lives with him forever every person every person past!

[43:22] present! and future! Every single person will one day bow before Jesus!

[43:36] Every single person! in Philippians chapter 2 the apostle Paul is imploring the Philippians to be humble to love one another and he sets Christ as the ultimate example of humility of service of self sacrifice and in chapter 2 verses 8 through 11 he says this of Jesus and being found in human form he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on a cross therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father every knee will bow every tongue will confess this reality but there's a difference some will bow in worship and thanksgiving confessing what they know to be true others will bow still I think with a heart of rebellion with resistance confessing what they hate but now realize is true which one are you which one are you you will bow to

[45:25] Jesus one day and the encouragement from Psalm 2 is to bow to him now because those who resist those who reject those who rebel against God will lose and God in his grace in his love in his mercy is inviting you to no longer resist him to be redirected to the truth to know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior to understand that you are a sinner that all of your sin is committed against God who is holy and God will punish sin but in his love and his grace he sent Jesus his son to live the perfect life that we could not live he was sinless and he died as a sinless sacrifice on the cross he drank the full cup of the father's wrath for the sins that we have committed against him he died and on the third day he rose again as proof that he is

[46:38] God's son as proof that God has received that sacrifice as proof that he is in fact the way the truth and the life submit to him his burden is not heavy his yoke is not difficult to bear he's done all the work and he invites you repent of your sins turn to me and be saved and I pray and I hope that for those of you who have rejected him to this point that you will trust in him today pastor Tyler will lead us in an invitation him I'll be here if that's not comfortable for you to walk up that's okay come find me after church contact me later I want to who have been saved and who do believe the nations will rage they've always raged and they will continue to rage until our

[47:41] Lord returns should we live in fear should we live in discouragement should we live in despair no why because God wins God has won God will win and those whom he has saved share in his victory we have work to do let's not be afraid to do it let's pray Lord God what hope it is to know that in you is life in you is the truth in you is salvation forgiveness grace mercy love Lord to be in Christ is an amazing thing Lord we're so thankful for for your saving us for your turning us from our resistance our rejection our rebellion of you for your opening our eyes for you imparting the truth of who you are in our hearts and our minds setting us free from our sin and tethering you to the truth that we can stand on the rock

[49:10] Jesus Christ our salvation that no matter what happens in this life no matter what happens around us no matter how the nations rage that we have nothing in Christ to fear because you've won and you'll win and there is no power who stands a chance and we have work to do Lord you've called us to go and make disciples you've called us to issue this warning about what happens to those who resist you they will lose and they'll lose and suffer defeat forever so God we pray that we would be bold in our witness that we would be faithful and diligent in what you've commanded us to do and God we pray for those who have resisted you to this point Lord you have brought them here today to hear this word to be warned but to also be invited to turn from their sins to repent and be healed and be saved so

[50:12]  God we pray for their salvation Lord we pray that today would be the day of their salvation we pray that they would continue to wrestle with this truth until they submit to you before it's too late Lord we thank you that you are the good and gracious king that you are we're so glad to know Jesus in the hope that he always gives and we look forward to that day when he returns what a great day that will be in the meanwhile Lord may we be diligent to do what you've called and commanded us to do for the glory of your great name and it's in that name that we pray in the name of Jesus Amen