Let us Burst their Bonds Apart
Psalms 2:1-3 ESV
“Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,
‘Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.’”
It isn’t just the nations who are raging and plotting against
the Lord and against his anointed, but it is much of today’s modern
market-driven church who is doing that, as well. Pastors and elders of church
congregations, and many Bible teachers, and “Christian” authors and motivational
speakers, and many other professers of faith in Jesus Christ are railing
against the Lord, and against his anointed, and against his commands (New
Covenant).
For, they don’t want to have to submit to Jesus Christ as
Lord. They don’t want to have to honor God with their bodies. They want to
control their own bodies. They don’t want anyone telling them that what they
are doing is wrong and that they need to change, or that they need to do right.
They are content remaining in their sin, and yet many of them want forgiveness
of sins and the promise of eternal life with God.
They want the resurrection of Christ without the death on
the cross, basically. They want forgiveness and eternal life guaranteed them
without them having to first die with Christ to sin and then to live to him and
to his righteousness. So, they have diluted the gospel message to make it to
where they can “believe” in Jesus, have their sins forgiven, and be guaranteed
heaven, but to where they can remain living in sin.
And this diluted half-truth cheap grace gospel has
skyrocketed and is permeating the church and is spreading like wildfire, as
hordes of people are flocking to this feel-good gospel which lets them keep on
in their sinful lifestyles without guilt and with no requirements to submit to
Christ as Lord or to turn away from their sins or to walk in obedience to his
commands. The flesh can continue to reign supreme while they claim faith in
Jesus.
God Laughs at Them
Psalms 2:4-6 ESV
“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.’”
God doesn’t laugh at sin. He doesn’t laugh at evil or at
people being hurt by evil, but what he laughs at is the audacity of evil people
to think that they can outwit God. They think that they can conquer God and his
righteousness by their evil plots, but they can’t. God may allow them to
continue in their evil deeds for a time, but eventually he is going to judge
them. Also, they cannot thwart God’s plans and purposes. God’s purposes will
always prevail!
God is and always will be completely sovereign over all that
he has made. He is still absolutely in control over all things. Nothing can
take place in this world or in our lives unless God allows it. And what he
allows, he allows for a purpose, and ultimately his purpose is to draw all
people to Jesus Christ, to convince them of their sins and of his
righteousness, and of their need to surrender their lives to him and to let him
change them.
The Ends of the Earth
Psalms 2:7-9 ESV
“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.’”
God’s plan for us even before the creation of the world was
to have his only begotten Son Jesus Christ be the Savior of the world. And
Jesus is also God, the second person of our triune God – Father, Son and Holy
Spirit. It was always God’s plan that he would send his Son to the earth to die
on a cross for our sins so that we might die with him to sin and live to him
and to his righteousness, and that we might have eternal life with God.
God’s plan of salvation for our lives was not just to forgive
us our sins so we could go to heaven when we die. His plan all along was to
deliver us from our slavery (addiction) to sin so we would now be slaves of God
and of his righteousness. So, Jesus didn’t take our place on that cross so that
we wouldn’t have to do anything, and so that we could keep on sinning against
him, only now without guilt and without the fear of punishment.
Jesus died on that cross to buy us back for God (to redeem
us) so that we would now be God’s possession and so that we would honor God
with our bodies (our lives). And to honor God/Jesus is to obey him and his commands
(New Covenant), and it is to submit to him as Lord (owner-master), and it is to
forsake our former lives of living for sin and for self in order to walk in the
ways of the Lord and in his truth and righteousness.
But for all who refuse to obey him, who refuse to bow the
knee to him and to honor him as Lord (owner-master), who refuse to forsake
their sinful practices, and who choose to continue living in sin deliberately,
heaven is not what awaits them. It doesn’t matter what they have confessed with
their lips. If they refuse to bow the knee to Jesus, he will disown them. They
will not enter his heaven, but they will spend eternity in the fires of hell.
Be Wise! Be Warned!
Psalms 2:10-12 ESV
“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.”
This message isn’t just for kings and world rulers, but it is
for them, too. It is for all people everywhere on this earth. We must walk in
the fear of God or we don’t know God, and we don’t have salvation from sin and
eternal life with God. And to fear God is to submit to him as Lord, it is to
forsake our lives of sin, and it is to follow him in obedience to his commands.
For, to fear God is to honor him with our lives.
So, we need to be warned here because so many people today,
at least here in America, who are claiming faith in Jesus and eternal life with
God don’t really know God/Jesus, because they are not walking in obedience to
his commands, because they believe they don’t have to. They think they know
better than God, and so they are ignoring what his word teaches on this subject
of obedience in relation to our salvation and eternal life with God.
So, the encouragement here, again, is to serve the Lord with
fear, to not take God and his word lightly, nor to think that God should give
us his salvation and expect nothing of us in return. For, Jesus came to this
earth to give us new lives, not like our old lives. And he came to deliver us
out of our old lives of living for sin and self so that we would now live for
him and for his righteousness.
Jesus is not just to be our Savior, but he is to be Lord
(owner-master) of our lives. Our lives are to be given over to him to be his possession,
and we are to serve him with our lives in doing all that he commands of us. For,
if we do not surrender to him, and we choose to deliberately continue living in
sinful rebellion against him, he will judge us, and he will send us to hell,
just as he said he would do. For, God always keeps his word. So, believe Him!
Mary, Did You Know?
Songwriters: Greene Lee Rufus / Lowry Mark Alan
Mary, did you know that your baby boy
Would one day walk on water?
Mary, did you know that your baby boy
Would save our sons and daughters?
Did you know that your baby boy
Has come to make you new?
This child that you delivered, will soon deliver you
Mary, did you know that your baby boy
Is Lord of all creation?
Mary, did you know that your baby boy
Would one day rule the nations?
Did you know that your baby boy
Is heaven's perfect Lamb?
That sleeping child you're
Holding is the great, I Am
Mary, did you know?
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