“There's Within My Heart a Melody”

Whose Song Do We Sing?

In our first lesson we discovered that the choices we make are the notes of our own life-song.
Today we will see that our personal life-song joins a chorus with one of two other competing songs.

•  With Whom Do We Harmonize: The Song of Heaven or the Song of the World? (Psalm 2)

•  The Song of the World, (verses 1-3)

• ( v. 1 ), “Why are the nations in an uproar, and the peoples devising a vain [useless] thing?”

•  Since the beginning of time the cause of all the world's problems comes down to one thing – rebellion against God !

•  ( v. 2 ), “The kings of the earth take their stand & the rulers take counsel together against the

Lord & against His Anointed.”

•  They want what they want! - “Idolatry” = Anything that comes between us & God becomes our god!

•  They say, ( v. 3 ), ‘Let us tear their fetters apart, and cast their cords away from us.” – Not restrained by God!!

•  They (and others) feel confined by the things God desires of us…

•  “Lord” = Father (demands holiness) – I Pt. 1:14-16 , “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves in all your behavior, for it is written, ‘You shall be holy for I am holy.'”

b) “Anointed” = Jesus (demands Faith) – Heb. 11:6 , “Without faith it is impossible to
please God, for those who come to Him must believe that He is, and that He is a
rewarder f those who seek Him”

• This rebellion is so sad for God has continually reached out to a lost world.
a. In the Old Testament
1) ( Hos. 11:1-2, 7 ), “When Israel was a youth I loved him, and ??out of Egypt I ??called My son.
The more ????I called them, the more they went from ??Me; they kept ??sacrificing to the Baals.”
b. In the New Testament
1) ( Matt. 23:37 ), “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kills the prophets and stones those sent to
her, how I have wanted to gather your children together the way a mother hen gathers her
chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.”

• The world says, “We are now far too intelligent & too enlightened to fall for religious superstitions!”
a. Mikhail Bakunin (a Russian anarchist), “ The first revolt is against the supreme tyranny of
theology, of the phantom of God. As long as we have a master in heaven, we will be slaves on
earth.”
b. Karl Marx , “Religion is the opiate of the masses.”
c. Robert Heinlein, “ Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to stand up to the unknown
without help.”

d. The song of the world is a song of rebellion against the will of God in their lives!!!

•  The Song of Heaven, (verses 4-12) This song is to be sung in 4-part harmony!

• The Voice of the Father , (vs. 4-6)

•  How God feels about the world's anger towards Him! - ( v. 4 ), “He who sits in the heavens
laughs, the Lord scoffs at them.”

•  We would do well today to remember God's response to others – when others mock our faith
in God!

•  ( I Pt. 3:13-14) , “Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good?- Even if
you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. – Do not fear their
intimidation & do not be troubled.”

•  But a day is coming for the rebellious when God will no longer laugh at them, on that day they
will fear!!

•  ( v. 5 ), “Then He will speak to them in His anger – and terrify them in His fury.”

•  ( Rom 2:5; Heb. 10:31 ), “Because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are
storing up for yourselves wrath in the day of wrath, and the revelation of the righteous….”
“It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

•  Yet for those who refuse to sing the “world's song,” the voice of God sings a wonderful chorus.

•  ( v. 6 ), “But as for Me, I have installed My King upon Mt. Zion, My holy mountain.” - Not
physical but spiritual Zion!

2) This promise has been fulfilled in the church today. ( Heb. 12:22-24 ), “You have come [past
tense, therefore it is already true for us] to Mt. Zion and to the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the
first born who are enrolled in heaven.”
3) So the voice of the Father sings to us a sound of sweet assurance!

•  The Voice of the Anointed , (verses 7-9) (T wo Reasons Why the World Should Listen to the voice of the Christ…)

•  #1. Because He is Divine – ( v. 7 ), “I [God the Son] will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He
said to Me, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You.'”

•  “Begotten” : Not by a natural, physical birth but through a supernatural birth from the dead!

•  Notice how the inspired Apostle Paul used this verse in Antioch to prove Jesus deity, ( Acts
13:33-34 ), “God has fulfilled His promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is
written in the 2 nd Psalm, ‘Thou art My Son, today I have begotten Thee.' And as proof of this
fact He raised Him from the dead.”

•  It is the resurrection that provides us with the proof that Jesus is God!!

•  ( Rom. 1:4 ), “Jesus was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the
dead.”

•  #2. Because of His Authority, ( v. 8 )

•  The world is in an “uproar” ( v. 1 ) – making rebellious plans ( v. 2 ) – calling for freedom
from God's “fetters,”

2) So while the non-believers (who are in rebellion against God) are scrambling around trying
to carve out their little piece of the world, - Jesus promises us the whole thing!

3) “Ask of Me and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, and the very ends of the
earth as Your possession,” ( v. 8 ).

•  Jesus can do this because He has this authority from His Father, ( Matt. 28:18 ), “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”

a) Jesus gives authority to those who follow Him. ( I Corinthians 6:2 ), “Do you not
know that God's holy ones will judge the world?”
b) ( Rev. 3:9 ), “Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan… I will make them
to come and bow down at your feet, and to know that I have loved you!”
c) Therefore, the voice of the anointed gives us confidence & encouragement to face a
world in rebellion!

3. The Voice of the Spirit (verses 10-12)

a. The Spirit of God sings to those who no longer want to sing the “world's song” but are moved by
the words of heaven's song!

1) [Regarding the voice of the Father], ( vs. 10-11 ), “Now therefore O kings, show discernment;
take warning O judges of the earth . Worship the Lord with reverence, and rejoice with
trembling.”
2) [Regarding the voice of the Son], ( v. 12 ), “Show reverence to the Son, lest He become angry,
and you perish in the way. How blessed are those who take refuge in Him.”

b. The message of this song is clear:

1) The world is in rebellion against God and against His Messiah!

•  Yet the Spirit tells us that God doesn't want them to be condemned but saved, ( II Pt. 3:9 ), “…God does not desire for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”

c. You may be thinking, “But didn't you say the song of heaven contains for part harmony? You
have only given to us three parts. Where is the fourth?”

1) Have we forgotten the title of this lesson, “Whose Song Do We Sing?”

2) There is a fourth part. The question for us then is, “Are we willing to join our voices to the
song of heaven (thus making 4 part harmony), or would we rather sing a duet with this
world?!”

•  Those who take refuge in the salvation Jesus offers will be blessed ( Matthew 28:18-20 ). “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
a) “Make disciples” = teaching people the truth about Jesus so they will want to follow
Him.
b) “Baptizing them” = Immersion; the point at which they go from lost to saved
(numerous verses).
c) “Teaching them” = the means through which people continue to grow in their faith!