I absolutely love apologetics. I know some of you do as well. I love the many ways that we can study
as Christians and defend our faith from attack from those who would hate us for what we believe,
but also for those who simply don't yet believe what we know to be true. And apologetics helps
us do that. I remember many, many years ago when the Lord was beginning to draw me to Himself
with a plan to save me in His perfect timing, how at that moment as an unbeliever, as I was seeking
the Lord, as He was drawing my heart, I was so focused on the historical and the intellectual
side of my faith. I had promised myself that I was never going to be one of those empty headed
religionists who just believed everything that they heard or everything that they said without
doing proper research. So I set out to find out if the Christian faith was rational and defendable.
And one of the things that convinced me that it was, was the coherence of the Bible from beginning
to end. It was one of the things that really convinced me. The more I studied, the more I began
to see all of these connections from the Old Testament to the New, all of these connections
between the way God had worked through Israel in the past and how so many of those things God had
done was now pointing forward to Christ in the New Testament. So it was the consistency and the unity
of the Scriptures that led me to the conclusion that yes, this is a supernatural book authored by
God Himself. And it's only gotten more miraculous over time. If you've been a believer for a long
time, you can probably say the same thing. The more you read it and study it and go deeper, the more
miraculous it becomes. So today's passage is just one of the examples that I would point to
of the type of coherence that convinced me now 40 years ago. I know 40 years ago that God is real
and the Scriptures are true. And if you look at the text for today, you're going to find you're
going to stand amazed at just how many connections are found there that translate into the New
Testament. So where we're going to start this morning is to back up just a bit and take our
minds back to this amazing event in the New Testament we call the Lord's Supper or the
Last Supper, that night that Jesus enjoyed fellowship and a meal with His closest friends,
His disciples, but also the night that He was betrayed and arrested. Now we know that Jesus
came to Jerusalem that week for one purpose, to observe the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened
Bread. Although the Gospel writers don't give us every detail of what took place in that gathering
up in that upper room, we do see a whole number of elements in the text that point to a first-century
Jewish Seder. For example, the posture of reclining at the table. That was very traditional for a
Passover celebration. The obvious presence of bread and wine. And most importantly for tonight,
for tonight, for this morning, we have the singing of songs, which is very traditional for a Passover
Seder. In fact, I sort of teased this last week. The Egyptian Hallel Psalms are traditional Passover
songs that are sung by Jews even today. And this dates back all the way to the first century at
the time of Christ. Six in all, from Psalm 113 to Psalm 118. The first two would be sung before the
Passover meal and the last four sung after the meal. Now the normal course of events that a
Passover Seder would also include the retelling of the Exodus story and the symbolism of the meal,
because everything that's eaten at the Seder reflects some aspect of the Exodus story. But
on that particular night, in the year AD 33, the best way I can describe it, sports analogy coming,
Jesus called an audible, because we don't have any evidence in the gospels that they began to
have this discussion about the Exodus. Instead, Jesus began to talk about a different type of
symbolism, pointing to the bread and the wine as symbols of his imminent death that was soon to
come, his sacrificial death. So imagine this now with the Exodus, you have a story of God delivering
his people and giving them a new beginning as Israel, freed from slavery in Egypt. But now Jesus
was describing a different type of deliverance from God, a new Exodus, if you will, the freeing
of God's people from slavery to sin and from the ransom, the cost that sin demands. Now, in light of
that, hearing this sort of audible that Jesus pulled on them, a different type of symbolism,
a different type of Exodus, you can imagine how those 12 disciples were a little bit struggling
about this new teaching, right? Because remember what Jesus said, this is my body,
as he pointed to the broken bread. And then he said, this is my blood of the covenant,
as he pointed to the wine in the cup. So how puzzled would these 12 men have been trying to
grasp what Jesus was trying to communicate? And I sort of, I don't know if you've ever tried to
picture it, but I picture Jesus giving this teaching and they all sit in there with their
sort of their mouths open, like, what are we to make of this? And that's probably the way we would
have been as well. But something to take note of, not one person, according to the text of those 12,
objected to what Jesus was saying. These were 12 good Jewish men who knew exactly what the Torah
said about eating flesh and drinking blood. It was a violation of God's law, but they didn't object,
which means they must have understood it symbolically, just as the Passover meal itself
was always understood to be symbolic and not literal. But then with the entire evening and
that hard teaching ringing in their ears, Matthew and Mark tell us that the entire group finished
the celebration that night by what? By singing a hymn, by singing songs, probably Psalms. And then
they headed out to the Mount of Olives where we know Jesus would spend time in the Garden of
Gethsemane before he was arrested. So let's come back to these, the Hallel Psalms. The most famous
of all of them, the most beloved is the final Psalm, the one that closes out the celebration,
Psalm 118. And that is our text for this morning. Now think with me, and I know I teased this last
week, but I want to re-tease it for you. If Jesus and his disciples carried out the traditional order
of the Seder that night, what we're about to read and study would have been the last song
that Jesus sang while he lived on the earth. Think about that. Grab your Bibles. We're going to Psalm
118. Could these words be the last song that Jesus sang? Fascinating to think about, to be a
fly on the wall of that upper room, right? And to really hear all that was going on. Now we don't
know for sure who wrote Psalm 118 or when, although scholars have suggested a number of
possibilities over the centuries. There is a possible reason to believe that King David wrote
it. And that reason comes out of the book of Ezra, chapter three, which if you know anything
about Ezra, it is a post-exilic book. It was written after that point where the Jews came out
of exile in Babylon and were reestablished in the land in order to reestablish their lives and their
worship. And Ezra tells us that at least a portion of Psalm 118 was the chosen song of praise that
was sung on the day that they celebrated the building of the foundation of the second temple.
Remember, first temple was destroyed by Babylon, right? So they got back to the land and they
built a new foundation and they stopped and they celebrated. And according to Ezra, it was Psalm
118 that they sang in that day. And so I'll give you the actual text from Ezra three. He says,
now when the builders had laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priest stood in their
apparel with trumpets. So big fanfare, right? And the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals,
drummers, amen, right? With cymbals to praise the Lord according to the directions of King David of
Israel. They sang, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, saying, and this is a quote from Psalm
118, he is good for his loving kindness is upon Israel forever. And all the people shouted with
a great shout when they praised the Lord because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.
So some scholars believe this passage links David directly to Psalm 118 as the author. Others
believe that this remark is simply reflective of how Israel as a whole, ancient Israel, just believe
that all the Psalms were somehow connected back to King David. So regardless, the author really
isn't that important here. It could be David, it may not be. Either way, here's what we do know.
As in the example of Ezra, and again, this is the sixth century BC, this Psalm appears to have been
written as a song of deliverance. That's important, just like the Exodus, right? Where God delivers
his people. This is a song of deliverance and victory, and it was often sung on national days
of rejoicing in Israel. In addition to that, most Old Testament scholars will tell you that it is
written in the form of what we call a procession of worship, where we're going to hear the psalmist
talking about basically heading towards the temple gates, heading towards the temple mount, leading
a small group of righteous saints where he plans to arrive at the temple and then meet with and
lead the entire congregation of Israel in praise. So there's a lot going on in this particular Psalm.
Now we're going to look at the structure real fast before we get to it. And again, if you've been
with us in this series, I do not think this is not an eye test at the DMV. Okay, I just, and I've
given you only four simple divisions for this particular Psalm just to keep it simple, but those
two major sections in the middle represent, first of all, this processional that is heading towards
the temple. That's in verses five through 18, right? Where the psalmist provides the basis for why
this is important, why Yahweh is worthy of our praise. That's what we're going to find out in
those verses. And then from 19 to 27, we will see the psalmist arrive at the temple gates.
We'll see the congregation of Israel join him in worship, but most notably what we'll see is a whole
bunch of very direct prophetic statements about the coming Messiah. So we're going to close today
talking about Jesus. We're going to be in the New Testament talking about Jesus even as we look at
the Psalms. So here's how we're going to work through this. I'm not going to read, we're not
going to read the whole Psalm together. It's just too much. We're going to break it down by sections
and I'll try to walk you through it so that you can see the flow of what the psalmist is doing.
And I want to start by reading together the first four verses and the last two verses,
the first four and the last two. What this is, is what theologians call an inclusio.
Bible majors, anybody? An inclusio, or if you prefer a simple term, bracketing,
a literary tool we call bracketing. This is when you have common language or exact phrases
sometimes which mirror each other, some at the beginning of the passage and some at the end.
So it's bracketed. Does that make sense? And many scholars, both Jewish and Christian,
have pointed out that these two sections at the beginning and end of this Psalm reflect a liturgical
form that was very common in ancient Israelite worship. And in fact, you're ready for a
shocker? It's a liturgical form that we use today at Oak Hill. Can we do that? We can.
So verses one through four are what we call a call to worship. Have you guys heard that
phraseology here at Oak Hill? A call to worship. That is where the psalmist invites the congregation
to come into the Lord's presence with thanksgiving and praise. Here at Oak Hill, we have an elder
come up and do that every single Sunday. And this exhortation that he gives at the procession
heads towards the Temple Mount and towards the gates of the sanctuary. Here's what he says. Verse
one, give thanks to the Lord for he is good. Did we not sing that already this morning?
We did. For his loving kindness or his steadfast love is everlasting, or most of us prefer endures
forever, which I think is a beautiful phrase. Verse two, oh, let Israel say his loving kindness is
everlasting. Let the house of Aaron say his loving kindness is everlasting. Oh, let those who fear
the Lord say his loving kindness is everlasting. Now, if you're with us last Sunday, we looked at
Psalm 115 and that same group of the same three groups that were mentioned in Psalm 115 are
mentioned here because they're all part of this Hallel Psalm collection. The same group of
worshipers. So first, Israel, Israel, which is all the believing descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, let them say his loving kindness endures forever. Then the house of Aaron, which is, of
course, a reference to the priesthood. Let all of the priests say his loving kindness endures
forever. And finally, this is the big one to those who fear the Lord, which broadens out the
audience to the very ends of the earth and includes you and me. Right? As God fearers, both Jew and
Gentile, all humanity is encouraged to join together with one heart and with one voice to praise the
creator. So we can say it together, right? His loving kindness endures forever. So the
Psalm opens with this call to worship to all of humanity. And then if you drop down your eyes
down to verse 28, the Psalmist closes with what we call a benediction. A benediction against
something we do every Sunday morning here at Oak Hill. Verse 28, you are my God, he says, and
notice how personal that is, not just our God, but my God. You are my God and I give thanks to you.
You are my God. I extol you. And then he comes back to exhorting the whole congregation as he closes
and he repeats verse one. This is the bracketing or the inclusio. Give thanks to the Lord for he is
good for his loving kindness is everlasting. Here's the point of going through this. You guys,
this is the very heart of worship right here that God is showing us something that we need to pay
close attention to because every Sunday when we come together as a family, we gather in the name
of the Lord and we come into his presence as one people. And if we acknowledge that worship is
always about him and it's not about us, then our desire has to be, well, how do we then come into
his presence with worship in a way that pleases him? Not how it pleases me, not am I going to like
the songs or, you know, it's not about us. It's about him. So what does he want us to do? And I
think what we see here in this Psalm is exactly what we strive to do here at Oak Hill. First,
we have a worship leader who stirs the congregation to emphatic praise. That's what Grant is trying
to do every Sunday to stir us up to praise the Lord, exhorting us to come with a heart of
thanksgiving that we might understand in the deepest possible way what God has done for us
in spite of what we actually deserve, right? Because of his grace. And then second, recognizing
how his goodness and his love and his kindness means everything his what? What's the Hebrew word?
Chesed, say it with me, Chesed, right? His loyal, steadfast, unchanging commitment to his people.
Immovable commitment. We declare that when we come into the sanctuary to praise his name,
his unique love for us that will last forever. And the amazing thing about God's love,
it was there for you even before the foundations of the world relate, and it will extend all the
way into eternity future. God has loved you if he's called you into his family. And in between that,
in the meantime, as we live on the earth, the scripture says nothing can separate us from that
love. Do you understand how wonderful that is? That that love was established in the eternity past,
it goes to eternity future, and right now nothing can separate us from the love of God, which is in
Christ Jesus. Amen? So friends, listen, God is telling you here in Psalm 118 what he desires
from us as we make our way into the sanctuary. And if we refer to ourselves as a true worshiping
community, which we do, then these things should be present in our hearts, in each one of our hearts
as we hit that door on Sundays. So hopefully that reframes worship for us, because that's a big part
of Psalm 118. So with the call to worship established, what we see in the next section
is the psalmist is now going to go back and explain to us what he wants us to do.
He's now going to go back and explain why. Why does God deserve all this praise and worship?
And here's the reason he's going to tell us the Lord has delivered him out of great trouble.
So we're going to look beginning at verse five. Now I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time
here because some of these themes we've talked about multiple times in this preaching series.
Basically, here's how I'd summarize it. And this is a good word for all of us.
God hears our prayers. God answers our cries. God comes to our aid and we can trust God to save.
He's mighty to save, right? The late Derek Hidner, who was a highly respected Old Testament scholar
and an expert in the Psalms, describes that first section that we just read as timeless love.
And then he describes what we're about to read as timely help. And I love the way those fit together.
The two concepts. It's because of the eternal love of God that leads him to break into time and space
to help those whom he loves. So think about that in terms of these two sections. Look at verse five.
The psalmist says, from my distress. We never feel distressed, do we? From my distress, I called upon
the Lord. The Lord answered me and set me in a large place. Now I know that last phrase sounds
a little bit weird. The Hebrew word there literally means a broad or roomy place. In modern day English,
we would say a wide expanse. If you have the ESV, it's translated as the Lord answered me and set me
free. But I think that's an actual overstatement. I think the right meaning here is that in our
distress, when we cry out to God, he will grant us a broad sense of relief from the narrowing pressure
that we're under. Have you ever been, when you're in distress, you feel this narrowing, this sort of
claustrophobic narrowing of stress in your life. And what the psalmist is saying is that God's
going to give us room, a wide expanse to relieve that pressure. And then he goes on to declare what
I think. I mean, if I were you, I'd underline this or highlight it. One of the most comforting
statements in all of scripture, verse six, the psalmist says the Lord is for me. He's for me, the
omnipotent God of the universe. He's not just passively with us. He's actually on my side.
Think about that. I started thinking about like, if I was going to grab a couple of guys and go play
a game of pickup basketball and I got LeBron, I feel pretty good about my chances, right?
Because we have an ally like that on your side, that kind of teammate in the midst of trouble or
in the midst of a competition, how do you go wrong? You've got God on your side as his child.
Continuing in verse six, if God is for me, then he says, what can man do to me? If we know and
trust that God is sovereign over all things and we affirm that right, then we can be sure that
whatever man might do to us, that God has allowed that to happen. The omnipotent, all knowing God
of the universe has allowed that to happen. And if he's allowed it to happen, we know of his
goodness who we can say in some way that I may not be able to discover right away, it's for my
benefit because he's on my side. He is for me. That is so comforting to me, right? Because look,
we're all going through stuff right now, but we can know that God is for me. He's on my team.
So whatever happens, it's approved by him and it will ultimately benefit me.
But that's an article of faith, isn't it? We have to trust that. Verse seven, the Lord is for me
among those who help me. Therefore, I will look with satisfaction on those who hate me.
And a better translation there is I will look in triumph over those who hate me or oppose me.
And then comes this obvious truth, which we recognize every single day of this, of our lives
in this crazy world. And boy, last night as I was working on this and watching the news, this,
this really jumped out. Verses eight and nine, it is better to take refuge in the Lord than to
trust in man. Amen. It's better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust even in princes, he says,
even in the most impressive, powerful man on the earth. It's still far more
better to take refuge in the Lord because listen, we're believers. We read the Bible. We know,
we know about the nature of man, don't we? We know exactly what's in the heart of natural man.
We know what he's bent towards and it's not towards us. It's towards himself.
So why would we take refuge in someone like that? When we have this God, this omnipotent God who was
always good and who was filled with steadfast love.
Don't trust in man, trust in God alone. Amen. Then in verses 10 through 18, we get a bit more detail
about the distress that the Psalmist is in. In verse 10, it says, all nations surrounded me.
In the name of the Lord, I will surely cut them off or destroy them.
They surrounded me. Yes, they surrounded me in the name of the Lord. I will surely cut them off.
And by the way, the language here is also another reason why some people think David is a
man. Because when you see in verse seven that he's got enemies that hate him. And then in verse 10,
he says, nations surround me. That sounds like a king writing, doesn't it? So it's possible.
Verse 12 was very descriptive. They surrounded me like bees. Have you ever hit a hive of bees?
And they surround you and you've got to run for your life. That's how he feels right now.
They're surrounding me like bees. They were extending me like bees. They were extending me
like bees. They were extinguished as a fire of thorns in the name of the Lord. I will surely cut
them off. That's the third time we've heard that phrase, right? You pushed me violently so that I
was falling, but the Lord helped me. So the distress the Psalmist is going through feels
overwhelming. He's under great pressure. Enemy nations, armies are swarming around him. It's
as if he feels like he's trapped in a raging brush fire, right? He feels like he's being violently
pushed off a cliff. He's in real, a real state here, but because of his good, the goodness and
the steadfast love of the Lord, God comes to his rescue. God gives him this wide expanse of relief
from all that pressure. And ultimately we see that the Lord is promising. I will not allow your
enemies to triumph over you. You will destroy them. Then we read in verse 14, a precious quote from
Israel's history. The Lord is my strength and my song and he has become my salvation. Now that is
a song of deliverance that was sung by Moses. It's in Exodus 15 after God empowered him to lead
Israel out of Egypt and across the Red Sea safely. So he's quoting Moses here. And the truth is,
guys, you should know this throughout the Bible, the Exodus is always looked back at by Jews,
by Israelites as the supreme example of how God saves his people. Over and over again,
you read about this, this pointing back to the Exodus. And so for the Psalmist here to quote Moses,
this is a very precious thing of this, that's rooted in Israel's history. And when you've relied
on God to save you, as Moses did, whether that's physical or spiritual, he becomes your salvation
and your strength and your song. And you know when that realization hits you the most,
that that's who God is, is when you're in the midst of trouble, when you're in the midst of a storm,
or you're being chased up to the edge of a sea by an Egyptian army. That's bad too.
Right? But we all have our storms of life that we go through and we have to remember, take a lesson
from the Psalmist. It's during the storms of life that the enemy is going to try to influence you
to doubt God's goodness. Because if God really loved you, you wouldn't be going through this.
That's the whispering you're going to get in your ear. So that's the time that we invest the most
energy and the most focus in prayer. And we focus on remembering what the scriptures say about who
God is. And we take our fears and our feelings and our emotions, which I know that's a big order to
take all those things, and we submit them to the written word. And we say, you know what? I'm feeling
all these things, but I know what the Bible says about God's character. I know who he is. And then
we remind ourselves, I belong to the Lord and his steadfast love endures forever and he is for me.
Okay? And right now some of you guys are going through stuff. So I want you to think carefully
about this. We submit our feelings. We submit the things that we see with our physical eyes to what
scripture says about God's love for you. And we say, God is for me. So even if I have to suffer attacks
in this moment, even if all the forces of the world surround me like bees, I will not fear
because if God is for me, who can stand against me? These are keys, guys, to walking the Christian
life and faith. And they're right here in the Old Testament. Remember this too, your greatest need
in the midst of the trial is not just to get through it. We sometimes think that, right? God
just delivered me from out of this so that I can get back to a comfortable place. But sometimes God
is going to leave you there for his purposes. So the goal is not just to get through it. The goal
is to deepen our faith and our trust in God as he brings us through it. Make sense? And at the end
of the day, listen, even if wicked men do the absolute worst that they can do to you, they
physically kill you, they still cannot touch your salvation. I know that that's a heavy thought,
right? Even if they do their worst and it's happened, happened in the Bible, happened,
it's happened in church history, they cannot take away your salvation. They cannot prevent you from
abiding with Christ for all eternity in absolute and utter joy. So why would we fear? And by the
way, it's for that reason that Psalm 118 has been historically documented as one of the final texts
of scripture cited by multiple martyrs in church history. In fact, there's a great story. Some of
you guys have studied church history. You know about the Huguenots in France, three Huguenot
pastors in the 1700s who were hanged by the Catholic French government for the crime of what?
Preaching reform doctrine. Louis Reng, Jacques Roger and Francois Rochette shouted portions of
Psalm 118 as they walked to the gallows. It's well documented. They sang Psalm 118 as they went to
their deaths. And here's the quote according to witnesses, today is the happy day which the Lord
has made. I will rejoice and be glad. Can you imagine saying that walking up to the gallows?
I will give thanks to the Lord for he is my strength in my song.
This is a great song. Verse 15, the sound of joyful shouting and salvation is in the
tense of the righteous. The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. That's a hard word. The
right hand of the Lord is exalted. The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. Once again, we see
repetition in the Psalms, right? We've talked about this. When you see repetition, it means this
is very important to the Lord. Three times the right hand of God, which is known as the hand of
skill and strength. And then the Hebrew word repeated twice for valiantly carries the connotation
of military power. That's the power that God has for you. And never forget that oftentimes in
scripture, God is described as a warrior on behalf of his people. Now, verses 17 and 18 are crucial.
And I think it's best to read verse 18 first. You'll see why. Look at verse 18. The Lord has
disciplined me severely, the psalmist says, but he's not given me over to death.
So the psalmist attributes this moment of distress to the Lord's fatherly discipline.
That's hard for us, isn't it? He seems to recognize that God has some training for him,
some testing, some corrective purpose to allow these present circumstances. And guys, this is
why we always have to process through difficulty and trials in the same fashion. The question we
have to ask is, okay, Lord, this is hard. We can be honest with him. This is hard. What can I learn
about you? What can I learn about myself in the midst of this? What can I learn about who you are
God? And what can I learn about my own heart as I process through this trial? But the psalmist also
knows that he lives and breathes under the favor of God. So he knows this crisis will ultimately be
for his good. It will not destroy him. That's what he says in verse 17. I will not die, but live.
And then what? I will tell of the works of the Lord. And that friends is the correct response.
We've got to get the response right to once he delivers you, the response matters when the Lord
is your salvation, your strength and your song. It is your obligation as a worshiper to declare the
greatness of his works. To speak of the power of his right hand, to sustain you in the midst of the
storm. And by the way, historical side note, this verse, verse 17 was engraved on a plaque that hung
on the wall of Martin Luther study in Vittenberg because it was so powerful to him. It said, I will
not die, but live and tell of the works of the Lord. And you can understand why that was important
to Luther, right? Because every day after he hung the 95 theses, his life was in danger. The, the
immense power of Rome wanted him dead, but he knew there was a greater power protecting him. He knew
that and he knew he was listening now perfectly safe under the sovereign hand of God until the
very day that God determined that's the last work you have to do. Martin, do you, do you believe
that about God? I look, as I get into my sixties, I'm like, I don't know how much longer I can do
this, but God does. And he is going to get me to that exact date. And I trust that and Luther
trusted that here's what he said about Psalm 118. I'll give you a great quote. He said, this is my
Psalm. I'm not sure you're, are we allowed to do that? This is my chapter of the Bible. No, he says,
this is my Psalm, my chosen Psalm. I love them all. I love all of Holy scripture, which is my
comfort in my life, but this Psalm is nearest to my heart. And therefore I call it my own when
emperors and Kings, the wise and the learned and even saints could not aid me. This Psalm proved a
friend and helped me out of many pressing dangers. It is my friend dear to me than all the honors and
powers of the earth. Man, when I was reading that last night, I was like testing my own heart.
Could I say that about, about any chapter in the scriptures? Could you say that? That it's your
closest friend. Powerful stuff. Okay. Now we're coming to the grand culmination of this amazing
Psalm, verses 19 to 27. You see that third section there. As we come to verse 19 now,
the procession of worshipers has arrived at the gates of the temple, the gates of righteousness,
the Psalmist calls them. And now it's time to enter into the sanctuary to give thanks to the Lord.
But there's more going on here than meets the eye. This friends is where we, we get to the bulk of
the prophetic imagery that's going to point us forward to the Messiah. So we'll be talking quite
a bit about Jesus as we go forward from here. First, let's go back now. Having studied all that,
let's go back to that night of the last supper and think again about the upper room. If Jesus
and his disciples had sung the words of Psalm 118 after the meal, before going out to the Mount of
Olives, I want you to try, I know this is hard, but try to imagine what was Jesus thinking and
feeling as he sung these words, which point to him. Words that point to him. He's singing with
his closest friends who, by the way, he knows you're about to abandon him, but he's singing
these words. What is he thinking and feeling as the temple guard was approaching him to arrest him,
knowing that he was going to stand trial before his enemies, knowing the intensity, the suffering
that he was going to have to face. What was he, what was he thinking when he, when he sang these
words from my distress, I called upon the Lord, the Lord is for me. I will not fear. What can man do
to me? I will look in triumph over those who hate me. What was he thinking? Is he saying the nations
surround me. They surround me like bees. They push me with violence toward falling. Did he have in
mind as he was singing those words, the soldiers who would slap him and spit on him and the chief
priests who would encircle the cross and mock his suffering as he hung there in agony. But then did
he draw strength and encouragement from these truths as he sang the Lord helped me. The Lord is
my strength and my song. And in his name, I will surely cut off my enemies. Imagine all this going
through Jesus's head and heart as he's singing these words. And then imagine him singing that night.
The Lord has disciplined me severely. The Lord has disciplined me severely knowing that even,
even though he's lived a sinless life, he knows what will be written about him later in Hebrews
two, where it says his obedience to the will of the father was perfected through what through
suffering. His obedience was perfected through suffering, perfected over those hours of distress
hanging on the cross as he paid the ransom for our sins. He sang those words, but then he could also
sing with utter confidence that death would not have a hold on him. The Lord has not given me over
to death. I will not die, but live and then tell of his mighty works. Jesus knew that he wouldn't be
left to linger in death. He knew that the exalted right hand of the Lord would work valiantly to
raise him from the dead. All of these, all of these verses, verses five through 18 have incredible,
I call them prophetic breadcrumbs that get dropped on the ground. Now you wouldn't necessarily pick
those things out by themselves, but once we get to verse 19, it gets extremely obvious that that is
exactly the direction of this song. We come to verse 19, it gets very clear. Again, we've got to
imagine Jesus singing these words. We're going to read verses 19 to 27. I'm going to ask you guys
to stretch your legs and stand because this is worthy of standing and honoring God's word.
Verses 19 to 27.
Open to me the gates of righteousness. I shall enter through them. I shall give thanks to the
Lord. This is the gate of the Lord. The righteous will enter through it. I shall give thanks to you
for you have answered me and you have become my salvation. Verse 22, the stone which the builders
rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes.
This is the day which the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Oh Lord, do say we
beseech you. Oh Lord, we beseech you. Do send prosperity. Blessed is the one who comes in the
name of the Lord. We have blessed you from the house of the Lord. The Lord is God and he has
given us light. Bind the festival sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar. Amen. Go ahead
and have a seat. So what's happening here? As the psalmist approaches the gates of the temple in
Jerusalem, as he enters through them, we as New Testament believers see a much greater fulfillment
than what's going on in that particular moment. See, when you turn to the book of Hebrews,
in Hebrews 9, it says Jesus our high priest, listen now, entered through a greater and more
perfect tabernacle, not made by human hands and not of this creation, but the true tabernacle,
where? In heaven, to appear in the presence of the Father for us. Hebrews 9. And the reason Jesus
was qualified to enter into not the temple gates in Jerusalem, but the heavenly gates
was because of his sinless life, because of his perfect obedience to the Father's will. Now here's
where it gets fun for us, because he is our first fruits of the resurrection, we get to follow him
through those gates. Amen, right? Because we're clothed with his righteousness. He is our first
fruits, our pioneer, our forerunner, we are clothed in his righteousness, we get to go into those
heavenly gates. I'll let you meditate on that. It's amazing. This is the gate of the Lord, it says in
verse 20. The righteous enter into it, that is us, not because of us, but because of Christ,
because of his sacrificial death, the imputed righteousness that we have from him. We are
the first fruits of the resurrection. We enter into those gates as Jesus brings many sons and
daughters with him to glory. That's what's happening here. So there's the earthly thing
that's happening at the temple in Jerusalem, but there's a much greater fulfillment happening
here. Then we get to verse 22. Notice how the pronouns change up until this point. The psalmist
has been using first person singular, talking about I and my, but now we get to us and we. And
the worship leader, he's gotten to the temple gates and now he is, he is bringing the whole
congregation of Israel in to sing the rest of this particular psalm. And what they proclaim is
astonishing. Look, it says there is a stone, they say, there's a stone and it's a rejected stone,
but God has now taken that rejected stone and put it in the most important place in the entire
structure. It's the cornerstone upon which everything else is built, but it's a rejected
stone. Now in that moment, this baffles scholars. What did the psalmist have in mind as he wrote
that? What was he talking about? And there's a couple of suggestions made, one that he's talking
about Israel as a rejected nation, according to the world. The other possibilities he's referring
to David himself, who was being rejected as King for a whole number of reasons. But my opinion is
this is a purely prophetic statement that the psalmist makes being carried along by the Holy
Spirit, purely prophetic, speaking of the Messiah, who would someday come to his own people as a
suffering servant and be rejected. That's what's going on here, I think. And historically we on
the cross know exactly what came out of it. Cause guess what? Jesus applied this particular text
to himself in Matthew 21. So we don't even have to guess. The setting is real interesting. He's
challenging the chief priests and the scribes by teaching these parables. And as he teaches the
parables, they're starting to scratch their heads and go, Oh, I think he's talking about us.
Which is quite hilarious knowing the full story, but they're like, wait, they're whispering,
are you talking about us? Yeah, it's you. You're the builders who have rejected the cornerstone.
Numb skulls. And he looks at them and he says, have you not read the scriptures?
Could you imagine being, you're the expert in the law in Jerusalem. And this guy from Nazareth goes,
haven't you read the Bible? He says, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief
cornerstone. He says, therefore the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who
will produce its fruit. Later, Peter and John, when they're standing in front of the Sanhedrin,
literally look at the Sanhedrin and say, you're the builders. You're the one who rejected Jesus.
You rejected your own Messiah with great boldness and courage. It's very clear. And indeed the
religious establishment of Israel, the ones, the ones who have all people should have seen the truth
and recognize the Messiah. They not only rejected the stone, they actually conspired to have him
crucified. They partnered with Rome, with Gentiles to kill their Messiah. But here's something God
takes absolute delight in turning the pride of man upside down. Did you know that? He takes absolute
delight in confounding people who think they're wise and shaming people who think they're strong.
And he says, I'm going to raise up the rejected stone and I'm going to highly exalt him. In fact,
so exalted that at his name, every knee will bow. This is our God. And note, he says, this is the
Lord's doing, right? He's orchestrated this whole thing. Every step, every aspect of salvation comes
from God. And he says, it's marvelous in our eyes. Now, for those who reject the stone, it's not so
marvelous, right? But for those who are called according to his purpose, God's elect, it's the
most joyful thing we can imagine. It's marvelous in our eyes. And so he says, this is the day that the
Lord has made. Now I know we like to apply that to every day and we can do that, but specifically
he's saying, this is the day of salvation, the coming of Christ and the exalting of the rejected
stone. This is the day of salvation. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. So again, imagine Jesus singing
Psalm 118 at the end of the last supper. He's singing about himself, the rejected stone,
knowing that within hours he's going to be abandoned by his friends. He's going to be
condemned by both Jerusalem and Rome. And he's going to hear the crowd shout, you know what,
we want Barabbas. Crucify that guy. And I just wonder, and it makes me emotional.
When Jesus was singing those words on that night, did he have tears in his eyes? Knowing the rejection
that was coming. He's fully human, right? I mean, he's fully God, but he's also fully human.
Did he have tears in his eyes when he was singing about himself as the rejected stone?
Finally, we come to the most haunting part of the Psalm, verses 25 and 26.
These are the very same words shouted by the crowds as they waved those palm branches.
Right? Prophetic words that the crowds were directing at Jesus as he came into Jerusalem
on a donkey just days before the last supper.
Ana Yehovah, Hashi Ana. O Lord, do say we beseech you. From that Hebrew phrase,
Hoshi Ana, that we get our word, Hosanna. Save us, Lord. Matthew tells us that the crowds were
going ahead of them, ahead of him, and they were following him, and they were shouting those words,
Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. They were shouting
that at him. The crowds were singing and shouting Psalm 118 to Jesus on that day, because they
believed they were welcoming the great deliverer through the gates of righteousness right there in
the city of God. That Messiah was coming to bring salvation, and yet within days they would reject
him. Why? Because the crowd had certain desires that didn't line up with Jesus's mission. They
didn't want a personal sacrificial savior. They wanted a political savior. They wanted one who
would not bring them spiritual prosperity. They wanted material prosperity. They wanted stuff.
Give me stuff. And so Jesus, this humble rabbi who willingly surrendered to the authorities,
the people looked at him and said, nope, he does not line up with our material desires. That is
not our guy. And they said, give us Barabbas. Jesus sang about all these things that night.
Now the biggest surprise to me is I was studying the Psalm, and when I was reading the Psalm,
and when I took this on, I knew when 118 was coming, I knew it was going to be big and heavy.
Verse 27 surprised me, the last verse, because I think I often stopped at 26 because it's so amazing.
27 is actually the high point, believe it or not. Look at verse 27. There's so much more to this.
It says, the Lord is God, and he has given us, he's given us what? Light. In fact, he's given us the
very light of the world. But then keep reading and you see this amazing statement. And it looks like
at first glance, like it doesn't fit. Bind the festival sacrifice with cords to the horns of the
altar. Look at this picture. That is the bronze altar that sat in the court of the priests in the
temple. See the four horns on the four corners? That's what's being described here. Depending on
the festival, that is the place where the slain animal would be burned or, or bound alive,
prepared for sacrifice. Now picture Jesus giving himself up to be bound to the altar, but in his
case, nailed to a cross. And on the very same day that the Passover lambs were being slain.
And once more, imagine him singing about the festival sacrifice. He knows it's him.
That's me. With his disciples there on the last supper, he knows it's written about him,
knowing that soon his body was going to be horribly broken and knowing that soon his blood would be
brutally shed for you and for me. So this Psalm takes us all the way to the cross where Jesus is
bound to the altar of sacrifice. So what do we do? How do we respond to this? Well, as those of us
who follow Jesus, not just as savior, but Lord as well, we have a calling to surrender ourselves
spiritually, to bind ourselves to the altar so that we might die to ourselves and die with him.
That's what Jesus has called us to, to crucify the flesh, to die with him, to crucify that old man
so that we're no longer slaves to sin. And just as he was raised to life, we who belong to him are to
become increasing and measure what? Living and holy sacrifices acceptable to him. That's how we
respond. We die with him and we live for him. And this is why I love the connections in the scriptures
from the Old Testament to the New. I didn't even know if I can even count them in this Psalm. All
the connections from old to new. A thousand years before Jesus was born, the psalmist could write
and sing of these beautiful mysteries and then have them come to pass in the first century.
How wonderful, right? How marvelous is your savior's love for you?