”How Great is Our Savior” | Sun AM | Psalm 118

I want to preach this morning from Psalm

118, a message titled, How Great is Our

Savior.

The beginning of November, we began a a

series, a little minieries that's going

to take us through the months of

November and December. And we've titled

this little series Songs of the Season.

And we're just looking at some

selections from the Psalms that in

November, we're looking primarily at

those that bring that draw our hearts to

thanksgiving and praise. And then we're

going to transition through the month of

December and look at at these messianic

psalms, these psalms that focus on

Jesus, on the coming Messiah, on our

savior. And we've we've kind of parked

over the last few weeks here in this

collection of Psalms in the book of

Psalms, Psalm 113 through 118.

And I did not plan to park here, but

it's just kind of where the Lord parked

us at looking at these collection of

psalms that are known as the halal

psalms or these psalms that are psalms

of praise and thanksgiving. And they're

beautiful, beautiful psalms. And we

haven't done all of them. I would

encourage you go back and maybe read

through all of them. Read Psalm 113

through 118. We have looked at 113, 115,

116. And this morning we're going to

look at 118.

And I hope that this will be a blessing

to you. Remember the word, the Hebrew

word hell is uh transliterated to

English as hallelujah. It's where we get

our our word hallelujah from.

And so when you say hallelujah, what you

are essentially saying is praise the

Lord. Praise the Lord. And he is Lord

and he is worthy of our praise. Psalm

118 is an interesting bridge for us.

Psalm 118 is part of these hell psalms.

It is a psalm of thanksgiving. It is a

psalm of praise. But it is also a very

messianic psalm. In fact, Psalm 118 is

directly quoted in the New Testament

more than any other Psalm in the book of

Psalms. It's quoted over and over and

over in the New Testament. One specific

verse that we'll get to at the end is

quoted six times. Just that verse in the

New Testament. I've got a quote here uh

from a one commentary that I read that

lists them all out. I'm not going to

read them all to you, but you can do the

study if you want the quote. I'll give

it to you. You can see every time that

this psalm is quoted in the New

Testament. And this is a very messianic

psalm. It's weighted down with prophecy

of the Messiah and looking forward to

the coming Messiah, looking forward to

Jesus Christ. And so for us in our

study, it it's a beautiful psalm to

preach on the last Sunday of November

that will lead us into those messianic

psalms because it it accomplishes both.

As does most psalms. Most psalms you

will find have some messianic quality as

well as the the praise quality, but this

psalm is strong on both. And so for us

this morning, we're going to look at

this psalm, Psalm 118, and we're going

to emphasize both of these um these f

focus points, both thanksgiving and

praise, as well as the Messiah who is

coming. Psalm 118

in short is a dramatic persuasion to

praise through its declaration of the

greatness of Jesus. It's going to tell

us just how great he is, how wonderful

he is, and and through the psalm, you

you ought to find yourself, I think,

strongly persuaded to give God the

praise and the glory and the adoration

that he deserves. For those of you who

uh study church history and study the

Reformation, I don't know if you uh

enjoy the that stuff, but Martin Luther,

the gentleman who nailed the 95 thesis

on the door of Wittenberg Chapel and

kind of kickstarted the Reformation,

Martin Luther said many times that Psalm

118 was his favorite chapter in all of

the Bible and that it helped him on

numerous occasions get through difficult

things in life. And for us, I I I have

to in some ways agree with Martin Luther

that this psalm is a powerful, heavily

weighted down. It's a it's a heavily

loaded psalm. And we do not have time to

go through the whole psalm together

today and look at every detail, but

we're going to go through it and kind of

overview it. Look at the high points of

this psalm. And I I pray and I hope that

our hearts will be drawn to Jesus Christ

and that we will have a desire in us to

praise him through the rest of this week

for who he is and all that he's done. I

want you I want to start by reading

verse number 14. I think Psalm 118

hinges on verse 14. I think verse 14

gives us essentially the outline of the

whole psalm. It shows everything that

the psalmist is saying all around verse

14. And as I've studied it this week, I

felt that we should break the psalm up

around verse 14. And so I want to start

by reading that and then we'll go back

to verse one and walk through it uh

together. But look at Psalm 118 verse

number 14. The psalmist writes, "The

Lord is my strength and song and is

become my salvation." from about verse

number uh verse number five and six

that outline fits. I'm going to add a

point to his outline in the in the first

four verses. Point number one, I'm going

to add to his outline in verse number 14

just for alliteration sake. Okay? But

then once we get to verse five, we're

going to see the Lord is our strength.

Then we're going to see the Lord is our

song. And then we're going to see that

the Lord is our salvation at the end of

the psalm. And so I've broke it into

four sections this morning. Write down

number one, the mercy of our God.

And with each point this morning, I want

to give you a personal application,

which I think is the outline the

psalmist himself gives us. So in verse

number one through verse number four, we

see the mercy of our God. You can write

beside those verses, he is my shout.

He is my shout.

Verse number one says, "Oh, give thanks

unto the Lord for he is good because his

mercy endureth forever." Now, I want you

to go to verse number 29, the last verse

in the psalm.

Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for he is

good, for his mercy endureth forever.

It's the exact same verse, verse one and

verse 29. The psalm begins and ends in

the exact same way. The book ends of

this psalm they they are a a command for

you and I to give praise to give thanks

to our God. There is a uh the idea here

is that he is calling us. He is

commanding us. He is inviting us to join

him. Whoever he is who wrote this psalm.

There's much debate about it. We're not

sure certain who wrote it. But whoever

the human author is, he is inviting us

to join him in a chorus of praise. Why

would we do that? Well, he he gives us

two reasons. First of all, in verse one,

in verse 29, he said, "For he is good."

Notice it does not say, "For he does

good."

Now, does God do good,

does he?

>> Sure he does. God does good. God does

good to each one of us. We just

celebrated Thanksgiving and I love the

holiday Thanksgiving and looking back

over the goodness of God and all the

good things that God has done.

But the psalmist recognizes he takes it

a step further. God does not only do

good, but the psalmist says, "I praise

him because he is good." Everything that

he does is good. There's nothing that

God has ever done that has not been

good. God does all things perfectly. God

is righteous and God is just and God is

perfect in everything that he does. He's

never made a mistake. He is good. It can

sometimes become difficult for us to

praise God in seasons of difficulty. And

you probably have even asked the

question towards God, why? Why have you

allowed this to happen? Here I am trying

to live my life and you say you're so

good to us and and and I don't feel the

goodness right now. Why would you allow

me to go through this struggle?

And some people will even tell me as

pastor, I just can't come to church

because I don't understand how I'm

supposed to praise God when I don't feel

his goodness right now.

You understand? It's not just that he

does good, but you can praise him that

he is good. Even when life is not good,

God is still good. And we always have

reason to praise. We always have reason

to give thanks. We always have reason to

lift our hearts and our hands towards

heaven and celebrate the goodness of

God. Not because of the things he does,

though we have plenty to to praise him

for in what he does. But at the very

least, we can praise him for who he is,

and he is good. And so, the psalmist

begins and ends with this thought that

God is good. I have reason to praise. I

have reason to shout because of the

goodness of God. But then he gives us a

a second idea. He said, "Oh, give thanks

to the Lord for he is good because

his mercy endureth forever." That word

mercy is one of the most beautiful words

in in all of the Hebrew language. It's

the wordad in Hebrew. It means loyal

love. And in fact, there's no real

English definition for the word. There's

no way for us to comprehend what the

word is communicating in our English

language. It's it it's an agape love.

It's an unconditional love. It's a

unmmerited love. It's God's pouring out

his grace and his goodness. It's this

there's we could just continue to go on

and describe this one little word,

mercy. It's all of the goodness of God.

It's all of the grace of God. It's all

of the love of God all wrapped up and

contained in this this little word,

mercy. And the psalmist says, "I will

praise him. I will shout. I will give

thanks because his mercy endures

forever."

If you were here last week, you

remembered that we that we talked about

the fact that in in Hebrew poetry, which

is what the book of Psalms is, is Hebrew

poetry. In Hebrew poetry, when you see

something repeated, it is repeated for

emphasis. So when something is said

multiple times, it is done to draw

emphasis to it, to focus your mind on

it. So with that truth in mind, let's

reread verse one, and then I'm going to

read the next few verses as well. He

said, 'Oh, give thanks unto the Lord for

he is good because his mercy has his

love, his unconditional agape love, his

goodness endureth forever. Verse two,

let Israel now say that his mercy, same

word, endureth forever. Let the house of

Aaron now say that his mercy endureth

forever. Let them now that fear the Lord

say that his mercy endureth forever.

Four times in the first four verses, the

psalmist has repeated the same phrase.

His mercy endureth forever. Israel, you

ought to shout about it. You ought to

praise him for his mercy. House of

Aaron, you ought to praise him. Shout

about it a while. Praise him for his

mercy. Anybody who fears God, anybody

who believes in Jesus, anybody who's

been saved, anybody who's been redeemed,

you better shout about it. Praise him

for his mercy. Praise him because he is

good. What I'm trying to tell you is

that every person who has ever breathed

God's air on this beautiful earth has

reason to praise their creator because

he is good and he is merciful. There is

no one without excuse. There is no one

who can say, "Well, I don't see how I

can worship him. I don't see how I can

praise him." Every creature on the earth

praises the creator and you and I should

be no different. I I have in Psalm 116

we saw these three groups and we uh

explained who they are. I'll just

mention it again for sake of exposition

in verse two that it's let Israel now

say I believe that is the nation of

Israel God's chosen people. And by the

way don't be confused in modern culture

in pop culture. There is a lot of people

right now who are questioning whether

the nation of Israel is God's chosen

people. And I want to say based on the

Bible, we can say with certainty I can

strongly dogmatically state that the

nation of Israel today is the same

nation of Israel in the Bible. And it is

God's chosen people. Don't let the

culture, don't let politicians, don't

let uh uh what do you p podcast people,

don't let them confuse you. The Israel

is Israel and they're God's chosen

people. Now, God has temporarily set

that nation aside. And right now, he is

working and he is moving through the

local church. There's coming a day

though when God is going to rapture the

church out and he is once again going to

work through the nation of Israel. They

are God's chosen people. That was an

aside that had nothing to do with the

message. I just thought I should throw

it in there. In verse number three, we

see the house of Aaron.

Let the house of Aaron now say that is

the the Levites, the priests, those who

were the spiritual leaders of Israel. If

we wanted to apply that to modern day,

we could say that it is it would be the

spiritual leaders of our day, the

pastors, the evangelist, those who

spiritually lead God's people. We have

reason to shout and praise the Lord. And

then in verse four, let them now that

fear the Lord say that his mercy

endureth forever. That would be all

believers. Anyone who fears God, anyone

who has trusted in Christ, they have

reason to shout and praise him for his

mercy endures forever. The truth is that

God is a merciful God. So number one,

verse 1-4, we see the mercy of God.

Number two, in verse 5 through verse 13,

we see the might of our God.

The might of our God. And if you want to

write uh the outline, you should be able

to put this together from here on out

because it's all from verse 14. Right

right to the side. He is my strength.

He is my strength.

The anthem of these verses is that no

matter what you are facing, there is

someone who is bigger. No matter what

you're going through, there is someone

who is stronger. No matter what you are

facing in your life, no matter what

difficulty or what dilemma or what

problem, there is someone who is bigger

and stronger than it all. Look at verse

five. Let's read these verses. The

psalmist said, "I called upon the Lord

in distress." That's a good thing to do,

by the way. When you are in distress,

when you're in the dilemma, call on the

name of the Lord. And then he said, "The

Lord answered me and he set me in a

large place. He delivered me." Verse

six, the Lord is on my side. I will not

fear what man can do to me. The Lord

taketh my part with them that help me.

Therefore shall I see my desire upon

them that hate me. It is better to trust

in the Lord than to put confidence in

man. It is better to trust in the Lord

than to put confidence in princes. All

nations compass me about, but in the

name of the Lord will I destroy them.

They compass me about. Yay, they compass

me about, but in the name of the Lord I

will destroy them. They come pass me

about like bees. They are quenched in

the fire of thorns. For in the name of

the Lord, I will destroy them. Do you

notice the repetition?

Thou hast thrust soar at me that I might

fall. But the Lord helped me. But these

verses, they they show us the might of

our God, and he is a mighty God. He is

our strength. He's more powerful than

your distress. in verse 5. No matter

what is distressing you, no matter what

is causing anxiety, no matter what

situation you might be facing, he is

more powerful than that. He's more

powerful than any man. He's more

powerful than any government. He's more

powerful than any nation. In verse 10

through13, our God is bigger and more

powerful than anything and anyone. He He

can beat any sin. He can conquer any

grave. He God is all powerful.

all powerful. Every power that exists is

a power that has been granted by God. It

all comes from him. I want you to notice

a few things about these verses.

In verse five, we see his presence.

His presence. He said, "I called on the

Lord in distress and the Lord answered

me."

Generally speaking, when you hear

someone's voice, it indicates that they

are near.

But when I hear someone speaking to me,

I hear their voice, I am comforted

because I know they are nearby. The same

is true with our father. Uh when we call

out to him in distress and he speaks to

us through that still small voice, you

sense his peace and you sense his

presence.

It comforts your heart and your soul. We

see his power through his presence. But

then in verse six, we see his power

through his peace.

He said in verse six, "The Lord is on my

side. I will not fear what man can do

unto me."

Do you remember playing pickup football

or basketball?

We We used to do this all the time in

when I was in college. Every night we'd

play we'd be in the gym playing

basketball or we'd be out on the field

playing football. And when you play

pickup football or basketball, you you

have a pool of people. you have a group

of people that are standing around and

you select two people to be team

captains, right? And those two people,

they flip a coin or they decide, you

know, who's going to pick first. And

then they begin to pick players out of

the group that's left, the pool that's

left. And you begin to build your team

and you go back and forth and you

select, they select a player, and you

select a player, and they select a

player, and you select a player until

everybody's on a team, and then you can

square up and go at it for a while.

There are times when

you you have to decide who's going to

pick first because there's one guy and

everybody knows.

Whatever team he's on, they're winning.

So, we we have to decide. You can't be

on the same team twice. We got All

right, you get four players, we're going

to get six players cuz you've got so and

so, right? We know that if you have this

guy on your side, you're going to win

the game. Have you been in a game? Have

you been on the losing side of a game

like that? That's frustrating, right? I

can't stop him. We played football uh at

on the intercolgate level when I was in

college and there was this team that we

could not we could not beat. We our team

we had a great team, a great football

team and every year that I played, we

made it deep into the playoffs and the

game before the championship, we had to

play this team and every year we lost.

every single year we would make it to

that game, play that team, and lose. And

I got to tell you, it's the most

frustrating thing I think I've ever done

in my life because I knew before we even

played the game that that's who before

the season even started, we knew it was

all going to go to that game and they

had these players and we knew if we

could get some of those guys on our

side, then we could win. You notice what

the psalmist says in verse number six?

It's a it's a simple illustration, but I

think this is exactly what he's saying.

He said, 'The Lord is on my side.

I'm not going to be afraid of what they

can do to me. He said, 'I've got the the

player on my team who nobody can beat.

If you think about life as the game of

life, if you're saved, then you've got

Jesus on your side. You cannot lose. You

cannot lose with Jesus on your side. It

does not matter who the president is.

That does not matter what the government

says. It does not matter what what life

throws at you. It does not matter what

curveballs you get hit with or you have

to face in life. If Jesus is on your

side, you cannot lose. So don't fear,

don't be anxious, don't be worried. Just

live in the peace that comes with

knowing I've got the best player in the

whole world on my team. We can't lose

this thing. Look at verse number where

are we at? Seven.

He said, 'The Lord taketh my part with

them that help me. Therefore shall I see

my desire upon them that hate me. In

verse seven, we see his power in his

provision. Now, this is a little bit

wordy in how it's it's stated here. We

could say it and and and in complete um

you know, protect what the Bible is

saying. We're not changing anything

here. We're just uh going to say it in a

in a clearer way. We could say it this

way that the Lord helps me so I will

stare at my enemies. That's the idea.

That's the Hebrew words that are there.

The Lord is going to help me so I will

stare at I will glare at my enemies. I

love the picture that the psalmist is

painting. He said because I've got the

best player, I can just glare at them.

We're just going to stare at them

because they can't do nothing to me.

It's almost as if I won't I won't be

dogmatic on this, but I in my mind it is

almost as if the psalmist is taunting

his enemies,

saying, "I've got Jesus on my side. What

are you going to do about it? What are

you going to do to me that's more

powerful than him?"

Have you ever just looked at looked

towards Satan and said, "I got Jesus."

What are you going to do now, big boy?

What are you going to do now?

You going to try and steal my joy? You

can't steal my joy. I've got Jesus. You

going to try and wreck my life. You

can't wreck my life. You take everything

away from me. I've got Jesus still. You

can't take him. You take my very life.

You take the air I breathe. On my

deathbed, I will smile because I still

got Jesus. That's the idea of the

psalmist here. I have got someone on my

side who's going to provide for me,

who's going to take care of me. And the

very worst that the devil can throw at

me, the very worst that mankind can

throw at me is no comparison to the

provision of my savior.

So he just stares at him. He said, "I'm

going to I'm going to just taunt you a

little bit because I trust in my

savior." He's more powerful, his might.

And then in verse eight, he said, "It's

better to trust in the Lord than to put

confidence in man." In verse number 10

through13,

we see his his power

is put on full display as he overthrows

the nations. Now, in verse 10, he says,

"The nations can pass me about, but in

the name of the Lord will I destroy

them." Essentially, he's simply saying,

"My enemies will be destroyed by my

savior." And he says it over and over in

those few verses. My enemies will be

destroyed by my savior. Now, there's

coming a day, if you think of this

prophetically, there is coming a day

when all of the enemies of righteousness

will be destroyed by Jesus Christ. He

will come and and with a one word from

his mouth, he will completely destroy

Satan and all of his armies.

But in the meantime, while we wait for

that day, you and I get to live in

victory, knowing that God is bigger than

anything that would oppose us, anything

that would discourage us, anything that

would distract us, any sin that would

hold us captive, God is bigger. And I I

may be young and foolish, and that's

okay if you think that, but I still

believe

that God is big enough to restore

marriages.

I still believe God is big enough to

deliver drug addicts. I still believe

that God is big enough to heal

alcoholics. I still believe that God is

big enough to rescue weward children and

grandchildren. I still believe that God

is big enough to bring revival to

churches. I still believe God's big

enough to bring revival to our church

and to our community. I believe we serve

a God who is bigger than all of the

enemies of right. I believe he's bigger

than Satan. He's bigger than everything

Satan's doing in this country. Listen, I

believe that God is still big enough to

send revival to the United States of

America. And if we could get a hold of

God, and if we could get churches to get

a hold of God and fall on our faces, and

God would send revival the way the world

is sat right now, we are primed for the

greatest revival the world has ever

seen. If we could just get a hold of God

and seek God's face, I believe he's big

enough and powerful enough to turn it

all around. I've not lost hope. Why have

I not lost hope? Because I know how big

my God is and he's on my side. And it

may look like the enemy is winning. It

may look like things are going downhill.

And I would agree that in many, many,

many ways they are. It's getting worse

and worse and worse. But I've got God on

my side. And he can do whatever he

wants, whenever he wants, however he

wants, with whoever he wants. And my

prayer is that he would use me and that

he would use this little church to do

what only he can do in the lives of

people. I think that's the prayer of the

psalmist. He's my strength.

But then look at verse 15 down through

verse 21. Not only is he my my shout and

my strength, but in these verses, we see

he is my song.

I've labeled these verses the majesty of

our God.

Verse 15, the voice again, we see a

voice, the voice of rejoicing and

salvation is in the tabernacles of the

righteous, of the church.

I hear the singing. I hear the song in

the church. There's rejoicing in the

tabernacle of the righteous. The right

hand of the Lord doeth valiantly.

The right hand of the Lord is exalted.

The right hand of the Lord doeth

valiantly.

He said, "I shall not die, but live and

declare the works of the Lord.

The Lord hath chasened me sore, but he

hath not given me over to death. God has

delivered me. In verse 19, open to me

the gates of righteousness. I will go

into them, and I will praise the Lord.

This gate of the Lord into which the

righteous shall enter. I will praise

thee, for thou hast heard me, and art

become my salvation. He is my song.

I think there's a a little bit of a

shift in the psalm after verse 14. It

seems to me as I as I read it and I

studied it that up to verse 14, he's

talking about the goodness of God and

the deliverance of God. And then verse

14 that it kind of hinges and then in

verse 15 he's like, "Oh, let me tell you

who I'm talking about." And the psalm

takes a a much more messianic tone, a

much more prophetic tone on the last

half of the psalm as now his his

attention is focused on the coming

Messiah.

And he says that the the voice of

rejoicing and salvation is in the

tabernacle of the righteous. And and

then he's going to say three times he's

going to speak of the right hand of the

Lord doing work.

The right hand,

the right hand of our Lord doing the

work. It's a beautiful hand. There's no

doubt who the psalmist is speaking of.

It's no doubt in my mind, especially

when you put it in the context with what

is about to come, that he's speaking of

Jesus Christ, Jesus, our blessed

redeemer. Jesus who has been our peace.

Jesus who has protected us. Jesus who

has power to deliver us. Jesus who

redeems us. Jesus who delivers us. Jesus

who conquers for us. In verse 17, it's

Jesus who does the mighty works. That's

his right hand is a a symbol of him

working. It's the hand of God that is

doing these mighty works. He

it's Jesus who does that. It's Jesus who

died so that we might live. Verse 17, if

you make it very personal, he said, "I

shall not die but live." In a spiritual

sense, you and I all can say that he

said this spiritually speaking, I will

not die. I will live forever

in the presence of almighty God. The

Messiah would come and make that

possible. It's Jesus whose works we

declare. It's Jesus whose power we

exalt. It's Jesus whose righteousness we

praise. It's Jesus who has saved us. I

believe this psalm is a psalm all about

Jesus. The Messiah would come and he

would make everything new.

The psalmist knew that he needed

deliverance by the savior.

And so he sings.

When we sing, when we come together and

we sing, may our song be all about

Jesus.

May our songs that we sing focus on

Christ. May we lift up the Messiah and

may the voice of rejoicing

be heard in this place as we praise God

for our wonderful savior.

I want you to notice the end of the

psalm

number four. The ministry of our savior.

The ministry of our savior. Look at

verse number 22.

The stone which the builders refused

has become the headstone of the corner.

This is the Lord's doing. It's marvelous

in our eyes. This is the day which the

Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be

glad in it.

Save now. I beseech thee, oh Lord. Oh

Lord, I beseech thee, send now

prosperity. Blessed be he that cometh in

the name of the Lord. We have blessed

you out of the house of the Lord. God is

the Lord, which hath showed us light.

Bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto

the horns of the altar. Thou art my God,

and I will praise thee. Thou art my God,

I will exalt thee. Oh, give thanks unto

the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy

endureth forever. The ministry of our

savior. You can write off to the side if

you'd like. He is my salvation.

This is the culmination that the

psalmist is building towards I think in

the whole psalm.

This identifying characteristic that

this is a messianic psalm that he's

talking about the coming of Jesus who

would come.

It's a psalm of promise. Verse 22, the

stone is without a doubt Jesus Christ.

This verse, verse 22, is quoted six

times in the New Testament. And three of

those times it's quoted by Jesus

himself.

This psalm, this verse, this stone is a

picture of the Messiah who would come.

Jesus who would be born as a little baby

in a manger. He would live his life

there. And at the age of 30 years old,

he would begin his earthly ministry.

He would begin doing miracles, but more

importantly, he would begin preaching.

The kingdom of God is at hand. The

kingdom of God is at hand. The kingdom

of God is at hand. He would begin to

preach and preach

and do his very best to show the nation

of Israel that he is the Messiah, the

one that they have been waiting for. God

has become flesh. Emmanuel, God with us.

God dwells with us. God is here among

us. For three and a half years, Jesus

would do everything that he could,

including explicitly stating himself as

the Messiah.

And yet at the end of three and a half

years,

the nation of Israel turned their back

on him. And in a moment, he was nailed

to a cross.

It was God's plan

because he was going to make sacrifice

for the sins of the whole world. The

Bible says before the foundations of the

world were even started, God had a plan

for a redeemer that would come and save

this world from their sin. That redeemer

was Jesus Christ. And when the psalmist

looks down through history almost a

thousand years, the Holy Spirit inspires

him to write about the stone that would

become the head of the corner. And I'm

so thankful Jesus is going to be the

head of the corner. He is the head of

the corner. He He is that chief corner

stone.

One day every knee will recognize that

and every tongue will confess that he is

he is Jesus. He is Lord to the glory of

God the father.

But when he came they did not recognize

that and they rejected the stone.

They hung him on a cross so that he

might die for our sins for the sins of

the whole world. It's a it's a picture.

This verse is a prophetic. Just as the

cornerstone was cast aside, so Jesus

would be cast aside. And that is very

personal.

Just as Jesus was rejected by the nation

of Israel when he Babe, come on. When he

uh just as Jesus was rejected, so you

and I have been guilty of rejecting the

stone.

There's a time in each one of our lives

when we

turned our backs to God.

that this morning we get to claim verse

15

that today we get to gather and lift our

voice to the voice that has spoken to

us.

We get to worship

not because of anything we've done. No,

we rejected him because of his mercy.

That mercy that endures forever. And the

psalm ends

with this declaration by the psalmist

that he would praise his God.

His savior had this unending love and he

continued to reached out to him.

And now he lifts his voice and he

praises and he said, "Oh,

oh, give thanks unto the Lord."

I want you to think about something and

we're done. I'll just give you this last

thought.

These hell psalms were sung. We can

state they were sung at every Passover

by the Jews. Jesus being a devout Jew,

he no doubt sung these psalms. And in

fact, Matthew, the book of Gospel of

Matthew tells us that at the last supper

as Jesus was seated there around the

table, they sung a hymn together.

it it is 99% certain that these psalms

is what they sung because that was

tradition. That's what they sung at

Passover.

So with near certainty, we can say that

Jesus sung Psalm 118 moments before he

would be nailed to a cross.

And the prophetic nature of this psalm,

I I have to think resonated with our

savior as he realized he was the

fulfillment of what they had been

singing about for a thousand years.

Then he sings the song in verse 17, I

shall not die

but live

and declare the works of our Lord.

Imagine Jesus saying that

he would die so that you and I can live,

but he would not stay dead.

On that third day, he would gloriously

rise again, and he would in fact live,

and he lives forever more.

In verse 18, the Lord hath chastened me

sore.

Oh, imagine Jesus getting ready to drink

that bitter cup of death. The Lord has

chasened me, but not because of anything

I've done. It's because of what

everybody else has done. The whole world

is sinful. I have been perfect. I've not

sinned one time.

But I am about to be chasened on behalf

of the sin of the entire world.

The stone which the builders refused has

become the headstone of the corner.

And then imagine him singing verse 23.

This plan,

this whole process, this death, the

cross is the Lord's doing.

And it's marvelous in our eyes.

I I hope that man we can somehow just

get a glimpse of the heart of Jesus as

he says these words

moments less than 24 hours before he

would be taken off the cross.

The next 24 hours of Jesus's life were

awful. As he concludes the psalm, these

are some of the last things he sang. The

last song he sang before he went to the

cross.

Save now I beseech thee, oh Lord. Oh

Lord, I beseech thee. Send now

prosperity.

Blessed be he that cometh in the name of

the Lord.

We have blessed you out of the house of

the Lord. God is the Lord which hath

showed us light. Who is the light?

Jesus said, I am the light. I am the

light of the world.

In verse 27, bind the sacrifice with

cords,

even to the horns of the altar. As Jesus

saying that, he no doubt knew he was the

sacrifice. And he would be bound to the

cross for my sin, for your sin.

But he ends with, "Thou art my God, I

will praise thee. Thou art my God, I

will exalt thee. Oh, give thanks unto

the Lord, for he is good. for his mercy

endures forever.

And it is because of the mercy of God.

For God so loved

the world

that he gave his only begotten son that

whosoever believeth in him should not

perish but have everlasting life. This

morning it does not matter what

opposition or anxiety or chaos you may

face in your life. There is one who is

more powerful. There is one who has

overcome. There is one who went to the

cross and was bound with the cords and

he became the sacrifice so that you and

I can live the victorious Christian

life. So that we may not die

spiritually. We will live forever. We'll

be eternal in the presence of our savior

because of what Jesus did for you and I.

He gave his life

so that we might live ours.

I hope that as we've looked at these

songs over the last few weeks, your

heart has been stirred to give him a

fresh

praise,

renewed in our worship,

renewed in our walk with him.

And I will praise him as long as I live.

I will exalt the works of my God even on

the bad days. And there are bad days.

What we're not preaching is that we're

we're not preaching a prosperity gospel.

We're not saying everything's going to

be just fine.

We know it'll be the otherwise because

this world is sin cursed and Satan is

the prince in the power of the air and

and there's chaos on all sides and it's

difficult at times. But I will not fear

what man can do to me because I know

who's on my team.

And so instead of worrying about

everything going on, instead of being

anxious about all the whatifs, instead

of worrying about all that life could

possibly throw at me, instead of being

discouraged and downtrodden, I will have

the joy of the Lord. I will lift my

voice in the house of his tabernacle

because I know my God is bigger. And I

know that Jesus did it all for me. And I

will rejoice in the name of the Lord.

Let's take just a moment just this

morning while she pray plays and let's

just pray and ask God. Why don't we just

say thank you? Can we do that as a

church this morning? Can we just say

thank you?

And then may we pray today that God

would revive our spirit of worship

that we would never lose sight of who he

is, all that he's done.