Psalm 2:1-3
The Path America Is Following
Today, our church is recognizing the 232nd celebration of our nation’s
independence. We have been blessed to be born in the greatest nation of this
planet’s history at what is most probably the most comfortable and luxurious
time in this nation’s history. If God never gave you and me another blessing of
any kind, to be privileged to live in this country is a greater blessing than
most of the human race will ever know.
However, this nation, like all other nations, is following a pre-described path.
It is a path that was prophesied in the Psalm 2.
I. The Path
A. \\#Psalm 2:1-2\\ A confederacy is formed with four groups.
1. \\#Psalm 2:1\\ The HEATHEN - The heathen are those who, for whatever
their reason, have denied God. They are the God-deniers.
a. Let me be quick to point out that not all people deny God
because they chose to do so.
(1) Some deny God because they do not know any better.
(2) They have never been told that God exists.
(3) That is why our church supports missions.
(4) Missions is not about constraining someone to trust
Jesus Christ as their Savior.
(5) Missions is about giving every human being the knowledge
so that they can make a choice about Jesus.
Romans 10:14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall
they hear without a preacher?
b. But also included in the group of God-deniers would be those
who have heard and belligerently refused God.
(1) Here are those who deny God’s existence,
the authenticity of God’s Word,
or God’s place as Master of their life.
(2) Some not only don't believe but can be quite aggressive
and contentious about it.
2. \\#Psalm 2:1\\ The PEOPLE - Since mentioned as a different group than
the heathen, THE PEOPLE would be religious people, perhaps either
the Jews or the religious in general.
a. So, in league with the God-deniers, are the religious people.
b. Some of these "religious people" would be the genuinely saved.
For them to be apart of this confederacy, they would have to
be woefully ignorant of Bible truth, but I am constantly
amazed at the foolish, unbiblical stands those who claim to
know Jesus take!
c. Others would be the multitudes of worshippers who bow down
before a SOMETHING, or an ANYTHING, or an EVERYTHING, as
long as it satisfies the innate desire of man to honor the
spirit
3. The KINGS OF THIS EARTH - The third faction in this confederacy are
the political rulers of the entire world.
a. Since before World War I, many of the nations of the world
have been in one kind of union or another.
b. Here we see the Bible’s power to prophecy future events
is again displayed. Certainly, there was no world alliance
of powers in the day when David penned this Psalm, and there
would not be for hundreds of years. Yet, we have them
today, just as these verses implied would happen.
c. However, the nations of the world did not have to formally
sign a treaty or join an alliance for this passage to be
fulfilled.
d. The truth is the rulers of the earth tend to follow the course
described in this passage. It seems to be their nature to do
so. This will be the one course that most all rulers have
in common.
4. The RULERS - Like the word PEOPLE comprise those not covered by
the HEATHEN, so the world RULERS comprise those not covered in
the POLITICAL RULERS. These would likely be the RELIGIOUS
RULERS.
5. So here we have the strangest and largest group of humans ever
to be gathered together. All different political and social
persuasions, all different religions, all different lifestyles,
all different nationalities.
6. Based on this passage, I think we can safely say the whole world
is apart of this confederation.
7. And YES, the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is part of this group as
well! Some of us may wish our country was not, but more and more,
it becomes evident that we are.
8. What could possibly gather so many together?
B. \\#Psalm 2:1-2\\ A seed is sown.
1. The Bible says those in this confederacy have had a notion sown
within their consciousness.
2. This notion has not only caused this group to gather, but it has
set them into action.
3. Notice the actions of the four groups.
a. The notion has ENRAGED the GOD-DENIERS.
(1) Rage means to be angry, but that is not all.
(2) It means to be so angry that you PLOT or CONSPIRE an
action.
(3) Whatever notion has been sown is bringing about a
turbulent reaction from those who do not honor God.
b. The notion has caused the RELIGIOUS PEOPLE to IMAGINE A VAIN
THING.
(1) A vain thing is an UNTRUE or FALSE thing.
(2) This notion has deceived the religious people into
either thinking something that is true, is not; or into
thinking something that is not true, is.
(3) Perhaps this notion has merely neutralized the religious
into being silent as the heathen carry out their plot
or perhaps it has so deceived the religious that they
too join in with the plot. We will have to read
further to find out.
c. The notion has caused the POLITICAL RULERS to SET THEMSELVES
in a certain place.
(1) To set oneself means to position oneself.
(2) Political leaders are notorious for straddling the
center fences on issues.
(3) Not this time. This time they are all in unison and
they are all on the side of the God-deniers.
d. The notion has even caused the RELIGIOUS RULERS to TAKE
COUNSEL.
(1) The religious is often characterized by talking a good
talk but being weak on action.
(2) This notion has changed that.
(3) They are not just talking, but they too are deciding on
how they can best accomplish what they have imagined.
4. \\#Psalm 2:3\\ Notice the direction this notion is taking the
confederacy.
a. They are moving against the Lord and against His anointed.
b. The word ANOINTED in the Hebrew means the same as the word
CHRIST in the Greek.
c. The notion has moved all of this group, the saved and the
lost, the political and the religious elite, all of the kings
and their kingdoms, to be against God and God’s Christ!
d. We are never told what vain notion is planted into the minds
of so many that they could all be turned to set themselves
against God.
e. But I wager we can figure out who the sower is!
f. \\#Matt 13:24-30\\ Someone sowed tares among the wheat in
the master’s fields. The workers ask the master who did
this thing and the master’s reply was, "AN ENEMY HATH DONE
THIS."
g. Satan, God’s enemy, is the planter of this false notion, a
notion so believable that even the religions of the world
align themselves against the God they are supposedly
worshipping!
C. \\#Psalm 2:3\\ A course is set.
1. In being deceived by this false notion, this enraged confederacy
plots its course.
2. The course is described in two phrases.
a. They will break His bands.
b. They will cast away His cords.
3. The bands and cords are a reference to God’s laws and commandments.
a. Some see God’s laws and commandments as bands and cords to
bind and restrict them.
b. To them, God’s commandments are God’s arbitrary refusals
to allow mankind to have fun.
c. What they don’t realize is that God’s DO NOTs are not God’s
denials of mankind’s fun, but God’s protection against
mankind’s demise.
d. Like the wise parent who denies their child’s desire to
have fun in the dangerous highway, so God denies His
creation’s desire to have fun in the demonic highway of sin.
4. Yet, this confederacy has believed Satan’s lie,
they have conspired against God,
and they will seek to break every commandment that binds them.
5. They will not only have their fun but in having it, they will
show God what they think of Him.
a. It will be a deliberate act.
b. It will be a calculated act.
c. It will be an orchestrated act.
d. And it will be a unified act, with both the religious and
ir-religious, both the saved and the lost.
II. The reality
A. This is the trend of this world and, unfortunately, this is the path
that America, is following.
1. I say again that America is the greatest nation in the history of
this planet and these are the most comfortable and luxurious
times in this nation’s history.
2. But along with the comfortable and luxurious lifestyle has
come the uniformed acceptance of Satan’s vain notion.
B. Finding proof is so easy it is a shameful. Just watch the news.
1. Friday, while sitting with my mother in the hospital, I
saw the news of the woman who was surgically altered to be a
man—and if you met it on a street, you would have thought it
to be a man. But even though it thought itself born in the
wrong body, it wanted to maintain it’s ability to reproduce and
so, some months ago, it was artificially inseminated and became
pregnant. Last week, it delivered a baby girl.
a. Some may find my use of the word IT offensive, but as I
studied language I was taught that HE is the pronoun used
to reference the male gender, SHE is the pronoun to
reference a female gender, and IT is the pronoun to
reference a gender-neutral being.
b. Science has broken God’s bands and cast away God’s cords.
2. On May 16, 2008, the California Supreme Court ruled 4 to 3 that
the California Constitution, in giving a constitutional civil
right to form family relationships, granted to its citizens the
right to form same-sex marriages as well as opposite-sex
marriages.
a. As of June 16, for the first time in this great country’s
history, a state of this united union not only allows but
throws it full legal might behind the support of this
abomination.
b. Courts have broken God’s bands and cast away God’s cords.
3. Thankfully, there is some indication of movement back toward God
in the field of education.
a. For years, education has only allowed evolution to be taught
in the public schools. To that end, educators will stretch
science beyond the truth to promote evolution while at the
same time, refusing to teach the most basic and sound truths
that would debunk it.
b. Education had broken God’s bands and cast away God’s cords.
c. I was, however, pleased to see that Louisiana has already
passed legislation to allow the flaws of evolution to be
taught as well.
d. This, at least, opens their education system up to a true
scientific discussion of evolution instead of a one-sided,
biased, presentation of evolution as a proven scientific
fact.
e. I understand that similar legislation is being introduced in
Texas.
4. A Pew Survey (a religious counter-part to Gallop Poll)...
...found that while 71% of Americans believe in some form of God,
...and 39% attended religious services at least once per week,
that 68% believed there was more than one true way to interpret
Bible teachings and 70% say they believe there are many ways
to eternal life.
c. Religion has broken God’s bands and cast away God’s cords.
C. The sad reality is that our country is…
1. …following Europe into a culture of denying the God of the
Bible and the absolutes laid down in it.
2. …following Africa into a culture of pluralistic deities.
3. …and following the elite of all the world pluralistic into a
culture of extravagant living and extraordinary low morals.
4. That is the predicted trend the world is following.
a. The question is what about you?
b. Have you abandoned your confidence in God’s Word?
c. Have you abandoned your service to God’s mastery?
d. Have you abandoned your faith in God’s very existence?
III. God’s Reaction
A. I don’t have the time this morning to discuss God’s reaction, as
outlined in this text, to the path that America and this
confederation of nations in on.
B. I will close with three ancient Bible verses.
a. These verses were penned by the king of what I would think would
be the second greatest nation to exists in the history of this
world, although you would not know it today.
b. These words were written at the height of this nation’s comfort,
luxury, and power.
c. Unfortunately for them, his people did not keep these words, and
the God who once was their Friend became their Enemy.
Psalms 33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD….
Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any
people.
Psalms 9:17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that
forget God.
C. We must always remember a nation is a confederation of individuals.
1. If in individual chooses to live right, he/she can direct a
family.
2. If a family chooses to live right, they can direct a community.
3. If a community chooses to live right, they can direct a city.
4. If a city chooses to live right, they can direct a state.
5. If a state chooses to live right, they can direct a nation.
6. If a nation chooses to live right, they can direct a world.
Will you be the right kind of individual today?
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