This is your daily reminder. God has not run
out of mercy, not for you, not today. Welcome
to the New Mercies Podcast. Welcome back. It
is Wednesday, March the 4th, and today in our
reading, we are in Psalm chapter 2. We're going
to read a psalm today. That's what's going to
happen. I hope and pray you read it. It's 12
verses long, very simple, very small, but I want
to give you just a hint today to how to read
this psalm. As you write in your journals, as
you consider what the Lord is telling you today,
we, through our journal time, just so everybody
knows, We have these spiritual formation journals.
Our church is going through a reading plan in
these journals, and there's a method in there
of how to study the Bible. That method is the
SOAP method. So the first thing you do when you
read the Scripture, you write down a Scripture,
you summarize it, or you write down something
that stood out or something like that. And then
after you write down the Scripture, You observe
it. So what did I observe in the text? Was there
a word that was repeated? Was there something
that stood out to me? Was there a theme that
I feel like God may be trying to speak to me
with? So you write down the scripture. You write
what scripture stood out or summarized it. Then
you write maybe a couple of words or some things
that you saw or noticed from the scripture. So
that's S -O, scripture, observation, and then
application, A. Like we're spelling the word
SOAP, S -O -A -P. So you got scripture, observation,
and then application. What am I supposed to do
with this? What is the scripture telling me?
What is the Lord revealing to me today to do?
Sometimes as I'm reading the scripture, it will
be that I need to take time and focus on my relationship
with my wife, or I need to focus on how to help
my daughters through some situation they're going
through. Or sometimes... It's as simple as I
need to pray longer today. I need to get in the
Word a little bit more today. I need to listen
to what the Lord has to say today a little bit
more. I need to lean into His time. Or sometimes
I need to make some phone calls and tell some
people I appreciate them, whatever it is. And
then the last part of the soap is P, prayer.
It's for prayer. And so we pray. Sometimes I'll
see something I need to say or do in my life,
and the prayer is just, Lord, give me the courage
to do it, right? Help me to actually follow through
on this thing I think I need to apply because
of what I observed, because of... your word,
right? That's what we do in our journals every
day. And so in Psalm 2, it's a little bit difficult
in the Psalms because they're not as instructional
all the time. They're instructional to worship
or to pray, but sometimes you don't know exactly,
you know, I don't need to call a friend and resolve
some conflict we had. You may not see that or
hear that. And this week is a little bit different
week for us as we're looking in Luke 21, this
text today. Matthew 24 and then Luke 21 again,
another psalm, and they kind of lead towards
some end times things, okay? Now, it's not an
end times weekend, nothing like that, not a prophecy
weekend, but it is something we need to listen
to and know in the scripture. As we heard yesterday,
Jesus tells us there's some things we need to
know. Here's what's coming. Don't be afraid.
You know where your hope is. Don't be deceived.
Don't be afraid. And be alert. Be watchful. Be
an active part of what God is trying to do in
the world. Now we get to Psalm 2. Psalm 2 is
broken up into four parts. All right, you ready
for this? If you're a Bible scholar or if you've
been around, I think I've podcasted on this before
years ago. I've taught about this a little bit.
But in Psalm 2, whenever we read it, there are
four people in this psalm. There are four people.
Watch this. From verses 1 through 3 is David.
David is writing this out. King David. Remember
King David, right? Boy with the slingshot. killed
Goliath, then he became king, and he was anointed
king, great, awesome guy in the Old Testament,
made some mistakes, had some issues, but ultimately,
he was one of God's chosen instruments in the
Old Testament. Also, the son of David became
Jesus, the son of David, in the line of David,
meaning the promise that God gave was going to
be through his line, the Davidic line, as they
say. So David is the one that wrote this psalm.
But here's what's awesome about this psalm. He
writes it, the first part is him in his perspective,
from verses 4 to verse 6. So it's kind of three
at a time, right? So you've got verses 1 through
3. Then you've got verses 4 through 6. Then you've
got verses 7 through 9, another three. Then you've
got verses 10 through 12. And here's what happens.
You go from David's lines to God the Father.
So from verses 4, 5, and 6. It's from the voice
of God the Father. Then you've got verses 7,
8, and 9 from the voice of Jesus. Then verses
10, 11, 12, the voice of, guess what, the Holy
Spirit. That's right. I want to read some texts
today with you, and we'll begin. So it starts
out with David's perspective. Why do the nations
rage and the people plot in vain? The kings of
the earth set themselves, and the rulers take
counsel together against the Lord, against his
anointed, saying, Let us burst their bonds apart.
This is, again, where David is sharing his perspective
and his word in the Psalms. Then the next couple
of verses are verses 4, 5, and 6. Listen to God
the Father's response. I love this. This is such
a fun place in the Scripture. Here's what happens.
Man thinks they can come up against God. What
is God's response to that? It is thundering laughter.
Who does man think they are? The heavens, the
cosmos, everything is echoing with the sound
of a holy laughter from the throne of God. I
have said before, I went through a series in
Revelation not too long ago with our church family,
and I... picture Jesus very differently after
that. The throne of God itself is magnificent.
I will sometimes read Revelation chapter 5, chapter
4, 5, 6, and those areas, and I will just see
chapters 4 and 5 specifically. The throne of
God is something to be feared. We are talking
holiness on display. John the Revelator riding
down. I told you, in Revelation 1, when John
started riding, he sees Jesus for the first time
and almost passes out. He's... as a dead man
falls to the ground. This is the man that John
was walking with, the disciple. This is John,
the beloved disciple, the one that hung out with
Jesus all the time. He turns and sees him in
Revelation in this glorified form, and John passes
out. He says, he's so incredible and so amazing
and so beautiful and glorious and holy, I can't
even take it in. That's who we're talking about.
This is the throne of God, and he's, as man,
stir up on earth. And we're like, we're going
to get him. We're going to take down the anointed
one. And God just laughs. He can't even contain
himself. He is laughing so much because he said,
who are these? I made you, and I can take you
out. I'm going to take you out. He goes on. It
says in verse 5, 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. This is a terrifying scripture to those
who are not God's people. To those who are against
God, this is terrifying. He says, As for me,
You need to understand where I'm at. I have set
my king on Zion, the holy hill. My king is there
and he is reigning. No questions asked. Then
the psalm goes into the next voice. Verses 7
through 9. I will tell of the decree. The Lord
said to me, you are my son. That's Jesus, right?
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. This is
Jesus's words. I love this psalm as it has broken
down so far. It goes from David saying, I see
the people going up against God. Now I want to
hear what God says. God's laughing. He's laughing.
I've set my king. You don't win. I do. Then Jesus
speaks, and he is the one who is going to break
them with a rod of iron. He's going to rule with
a rod of iron. It's going to be tough. Then it
goes into the Holy Spirit. Listen to what it
says in verse 10 through 12 as we finish up this
psalm today. Now, therefore, O kings, be wise.
I love the fact that God is three persons. God
the Father is... powerful and mighty and his
plans never fail. Jesus is the word incarnate.
He's the word in flesh and he comes in and he
rules and reigns and he's seated on the throne
of the kingdom of God. Then you've got the spirit
who is always drawing and grace -filled. You've
got this glorious king. You've got this gracious
savior. You've got this word of grace coming
from the Holy Spirit. It is incredible. The Spirit
is saying, listen, focus on Jesus. I love how
God also in himself, in the Trinity, a study
that I was sharing with somebody in our church
family. I want to teach the Trinity on a podcast,
but I can't find the time yet to quite get there
and do it. But here's what I love about this.
God the Father points to his Son. God the Son
points to the Father. God the Spirit points to
the Son. God is selfless even in himself. As
the person of God, he is even a selfless person.
It is incredible. God the Father says, I've set
my king, look at him. And Jesus goes on and says,
this is my father. I'm his son. He's mine. He's
the one that I love and I care for and I respect
and I'm obeying. The Spirit says, be sure you
are on the right side of the son. Be sure you're
on the right side of Jesus. I'm not sure what
encouragement you need. I don't know what's going
to stand out to you today. I will say this. It
stands out to me today that we are very small
and God is very big. Whatever he plans to do,
he will do. Whatever he has structured in your
life, you cannot change his plans. You cannot
go in and do anything that's going to tell God
otherwise. He is going to execute the plan that
he has. If he has called you to something great,
obey it. I really am pressing in today on verses
10, 11, and 12 as the Spirit is saying, be wise,
be warned, serve the Lord with fear. Serve the
Lord, period. Serve the Lord. Who's the Lord?
God the Father. Kiss the Son. What is the Spirit
doing? He's pointing to the Father and the Son.
What is Jesus doing? He's pointing to the Father
and the Spirit. What's God doing? He's pointing
to the Son and the Spirit. It's amazing. I'm
going to tell you today, I'm going to encourage
you, serve the Lord with fear. If the Lord is
telling you to do something, don't even question
it. Just do it. It's going to be far greater.
Be warned, if you don't, if you're not serving
Jesus, there's a problem coming for you. If you're
not serving Him and running after Him, I love
the thought of... Being warned, the Father is
holy and He's perfect. He's powerful. If you're
not on the right side, you're in trouble. But
also the Spirit saying, run to the Son. Run to
Him. Run to the Father. He will hug you. He will
bring you in. His holiness is unbelievable, but
his grace is sufficient, and it's there. I want
to encourage you today in this. Serve the Lord
with fear. Serve Jesus. Serve him. When it says
kiss him, lest he be angry and you perish in
the way, he's saying love him. Show him that
you love him. Be outwardly expressive that you
love Jesus. What if we were a church? What if
we were a people of God that showed the world
we love Jesus? I can't wait for that day. I want
to encourage you today. Read Psalm 2, fresh eyes,
fresh ears. Listen to what the Lord would have
you to do today.