Sermon
Thanks to Our Good God - Psalm 118
July 6, 2003
Pastor Donald Sheley

I'd like for all of you to take a Bible because we're going to use the Scripture quite a lot this morning. It's our joy, if you're new with us today, throughout the summer we're studying the great Psalms, and we've selected 12 of them. This happens to be Psalm 118 that we're going to talk about today. Let me give you some background so that you'll understand as we move along in trying to explain the Psalm.

If today you were invited, or yesterday on the 7th day or Sabbath, you were invited to attend a synagogue with a Jewish worshiper, and say that it was Passover time, one of the great hymns that you would sing and which they sing and have sung for centuries is what is known as the great hallel. It's Psalm 113 through Psalm 118; and so they commence their worship for the Passover with these words: Praise the Lord! Praise, O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord! Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore! From the rising of the sun to its going down the Lord's name is to be praised. And that commences the great hallel, Psalms 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, and the last part of that great hymn is the hymn we're going to talk about today.

Also, in Matthew's gospel as Matthew records for us the moment of the cross when Jesus was having His supper, it says they saying a hymn and then went out to the Mount of Olives. This is the hymn that Jesus sang that night, Psalm 118.

Now in many of our Bibles up at the top of each Psalm it tells us some historical setting or the occasion on which the Psalm was written. This one does not, many of them do, so let me give you the background to this Psalm. Go with me to Ezra, Ezra the scribe, and the background to what we're going to read in just a moment is the fact that -- remember Israel has been taken off into captivity in Babylon. They've spent 70 years there, and now it's time to go home, and Ezra, the scribe, leads the first group back to the ancient city of Jerusalem. His task is to build the place of the worship. Nehemiah will follow and he'll build the walls.

We're in chapter 3 of Ezra and look at what it says in verse 10: When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites (those are the men who worked about the sanctuary), the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, according to the ordinance of David king of Israel. And they sang responsively -- now that is antiphonally, in other words, some of the Scripture's we'll read, one portion of the congregation spoke one and then another group would answer back. So they'd sing back and forth to each other the great ancient scriptures. They sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord:
"For He is good,
For His mercy endures forever toward Israel."
Then all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the priests and Levites and heads of the fathers' houses, old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this temple was laid before their eyes. Yet many shouted aloud for joy.

Now remember, part of the group that have come back from captivity were little children that were taken into captivity 70 years ago. They've grown old. Now they are old men, and as a result they've come back with this group with Ezra. They've joined in this great task of building again the house of worship and they remember the ancient temple of Solomon. They are weeping. Look at how loud they weep. Yet many shouted aloud for joy so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard afar off. They were so joyous. They had returned from captivity. Their long time in Babylon was over, and now they were rebuilding their sacred place of worship.

Go just a few pages into Ezra, Ezra chapter 6, the story continues. Look at what it says in verse 15: Now the temple was finished on the third day of the month of Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius. Then the children of Israel, the priests and the Levites and the rest of the descendants of the captivity, celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy. And they offered sacrifices at the dedication of this house of God. So we have this ancient story of the rebuilding of a place which had been torn down. They have now returned from captivity and many Bible scholars believe that the hymn that we're studying today was the hymn that was written to celebrate that occasion. Now when you read and notes you'll notice there is a variation and speculation as to who really did write this, but most Bible commentators suggest that most likely this was the hymn that was sung by the congregation as they're rejoicing in their new place of worship after returning from captivity.

Now let me paint the picture so you'll see how this how this Psalm moves along. What you have is they're going to build, and we'll put the sanctuary over here and the gates and the altar in this part of the city, but they're going to do something in a very festive manner. They're going to some far corner in their city and they're going to start a procession, and this procession they're going to sing as they make their way to that place where finally they're going to offer their sacrifice, and they're going to come to that moment of great devotion and thanksgiving; but in that procession they're going to sing.

Now we travel in cars, in ancient days they walked. If they were going to Jerusalem for a festival and they'd leave their village, they would walk and oft times they would sing antiphonally the great old Scripture text. One part of the procession would sing one part and another would sing another. One would sing one way and the other would answer them back. That was known as antiphonal singing, and that's the way they enjoyed their journey walking along singing.

So we got this picture now we've got a procession that started down here in the end of town and they are coming up here to worship the Lord in this new place of worship. And so the leader of the procession starts the procession. He says, "Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever."

He wants to start this procession with rejoicing. Now look at what he does, he divides his congregation into three different areas; Let Israel now say, let the house of Aaron now say, let those who fear the Lord now say. So what he starts in this procession, he's saying, all you Israelites I want you to start our worship in our procession -- start singing, and it just could be that that the song is recorded for us in Psalm 136. Would you like to turn over there, and you can hear them now as they're walking along singing, and they're doing it antiphonally. One will sing, O give thanks to the Lord, and some other part of the procession says, for His mercy endures forever. So the Israelites start singing; O give thanks to the Lord for He is good, and the back of the crowd answers, for His mercy endures forever. The front of the procession says, O give thanks to the God of gods, and the back part of the congregation answers, for His mercy endures forever.

O give thanks to the Lord of lords, For His mercy endures forever;
To him who alone does great wonders, For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who by wisdom made the heavens, For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who laid out the earth above the waters, For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who made great lights, For His mercy endures forever;
The sun to rule by day, For His mercy endures forever;
The moon and stars to rule by night, For His mercy endures forever.

To Him who struck Egypt in their firstborn, For His mercy endures forever;
And brought out Israel from among them, For His mercy endures forever;
With a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, For His mercy endures forever;
To Him who divided the Red Sea in two, For His mercy endures forever;
And made Israel pass through the midst of it, For His mercy endures forever;
But overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, For His mercy endures forever.

You see what they're doing, they're going back and they're rehearsing their ancient history of all the times that God has intervened on their behalf. And one will sing, thank God for helping us through that Red Sea, for His mercy endures forever. Thank God for helping us through the wilderness, for His mercy endures forever. And so the procession moves along as Israel is rejoicing. Then the leader of the procession starts a new group worshiping and that's the house of Aaron. Well, who are they?

They're the priests. They had enjoyed, and always did, a different dimension of worship than the Israelites. The Israelite, when he came to that place of worship, could bring his sacrifice to the altar, it could be slain, and he would walk away, but not so of the house of Aaron. The house of Aaron were the priests. They were the ones that had that sacred chore and that marvelous privilege to walk into that holy place daily, and in the holiest of holies on the annual occasion, Day of Atonement, they had that unique privilege of standing in the very presence of God.

So the leader of this procession is saying, you that have enjoyed the intimate relationship with God you've stood with Him in the holy temple, you add your voice; you rejoice with us; you sing along with us, and so the priests begin to rejoice. And then the procession moves along and he said now let all those who fear the Lord, in other words, while they've been away and many people have moved into Palestine and so they've got a lot of converts and a lot of proselytes -- so everybody else, he's saying, all of you folks who are here in this procession and you fear the Lord, you now rejoice.

Now the Psalms are full of those rejoicings so what I have done is on page 3 I'm going to suggest that we do just like they did in ancient past. Take your notes and go with me to page 3. And we're going to do something just like the ancient worshipers did. I'm going to say a phrase and I want you to answer that phrase back to me. Okay? We're going to rejoice just like they did. Now remember, if you do it nonchalantly we're not doing it right, because when you read the ancient text when they got into worship -- I MEAN THEY SHOUTED!

Why do we have to be so silent in church? They rejoiced. They got into their worship. When the preacher preached they answered him back. That's why I enjoy sometimes preaching in the black churches; they know how to antiphonally worship the Lord. I mean the preacher says a sentence and they answer back. They are scriptural. And they are right.

Now this is what we're going to do: I am going to read, O give thanks to the Lord, and you're going to answer me, O give thanks to the Lord. Now let's get started right.
(The following is recited antiphonally)
O give thanks to the Lord;
for He is good;
because His mercy endures forever."

"I will sing unto the Lord,
for He is highly exalted.
The horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea.
The Lord is my strength and my song;
and He has become my salvation.
He is my God and I will praise Him,
my father's God and I will exalt Him."

"I will proclaim the name of the Lord.
Oh, praise the greatness of our God.
He is the Rock,
His works are perfect,
and all His ways are just.
A faithful God who does no wrong,
upright and just is He."

"My heart rejoices in the Lord;
in the Lord my horn is lifted high.
My mouth boasts over my enemies,
for I delight in Your deliverance.
There is no one holy like the Lord;
there is no one like You;
there is no Rock like our God."

Now you got the feeling of the procession, singing back and forth and you've got those who fear the Lord adding their words of rejoicing. Now, the leader representing the nation, let's go back to our Psalm, he says, I call on the Lord. Now he's speaking for the nation of Israel -- I called on the Lord in distress; The Lord answered me and set me in a broad place.

What he is referring to is as a nation they had had some very difficult times. They had lived 70 years in bondage and captivity. They had been a nation that was constantly under conflict, and what he is saying is time and time and time again we as a nation have called unto You God in our distress and You heard our cry and You set us in a broad place. That's the Hebrew way of saying, God, there came that moment when You took away the restraints and those things that encompassed us and those things that took all the joy of life from us. You took them away and it felt like we were in the open fields. We could rejoice. We could...we are free to praise God. You've set us in a broad place. You've taken away the restrictions.

You know, as I was studying this I think that oft times it expresses even our own experience of our journey in life. We come to moments when it seems like we're pressed in on every side, all the alternatives and the options are no more, and it seems like life has got us pushed just this way. We cry unto the Lord and in our distress we say, God, please help. Please help, intervene. And in His graciousness and in His mighty power He does, and it seems that when He does the pressure begins to release and it just seems like...Oft times when I've gone through this in church and we're conquered some great battle I go up to Mom and say (breaths deeply), you just feel like the pressure's off, the battle's over and you can feel like you're in a broad place.

Many years ago I went shopping down at JC Penney, and this is not an advertisement, but they had a sale on paintings and the paintings were $39. There was a painting, a beautiful painting, of ships, old sailing ships, sitting in the calmness of a harbor. The waters are still, not a ripple; they're in the harbor. You take a look at those boats and they look like they've been through 1000 wars. The sails are torn, the mast is broken, and the hulls are battered. The storm is over. Now it's calm.

I often stand there and look at that picture, and sometimes I feel like that. I've been through the storm and the old hull is battered and the sails are torn, but at least I'm in the harbor. I'm safe. You can see what those singers were singing about. God, I mean, we've been down some rough road; we've been through those treacherous waters of captivity for 70 years, but You brought us...In distress we called and You turned the heart of the king in our favor, and as a result, we're here now. You've brought us out of our distress and here we're back in the Promised Land, that's what they are saying, and we're rejoicing.

Then he goes on to say, Lord, You're on our side. We will not fear. What can man do to me? They are saying, God, we know we're Your chosen children, and no matter what nation comes against us, no matter how far they drive us into captivity, no matter what man does they will never be able to thwart or change Your divine plan for us. What a testimony of confidence in God. God You're on our side, and there's nothing that I can't take that You're going to allow; there's no temptation, no test that's going to be bigger than I'm strong enough to bear. That's true.

The song goes on and they're continuing their procession. They're coming closer and closer to the Temple area. Now notice what they say: The Lord is for me among those who help me; therefore I shall see my desire on those who hate me. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man and it's better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.

Now if you love detail those who like to do accounting will tell you that there are 31,174 verses in the Bible. That's all the verses added together. And verses 8 and 9 are the two middle verses of our Bible. That's fascinating. It isn't John 3:16; the theme is different. They simply say it's better to put your trust in God than to trust in man. They've learned that. And what great wisdom to us as we make our journey just like they were making their journey back to the land of promise.

When we listen to man and his advice violates the instructions or the words of the Lord, we've listened to the wrong counsel. I talked with a businessman recently who was seeking some counsel on his problem, and when I asked him what counsel was given I realized that it wasn't a godly counsel, and I very graciously said you spent your dollars at the wrong place. Because God's word really, in most cases, has an answer for us; this book.

I told you I talked with a couple who went for counsel and when they came to me they told me they had been to a counselor, and I asked what counsel did they give you? And they said, we should get a divorce. I said, you've been to the wrong counselor. Don't ever listen to man. God's word is very, very clear: lean not on your own understanding, the writer of Proverbs says, but trust in the Lord and He shall direct your path. Now here's what they are singing about. They're saying we've learned that the one you put your confidence in, your trust in, the one that you seek confident counsel from is the Lord; just Him.

Now I don't know how to enlarge upon that anymore but to tell you folks that over the years I have found that the answers to life and the challenges are found right here in the Bible. They're saying it's the wise man who listens to God and not to man. Amen?

Let's go on. Now verses 10 through 14 they're talking about their troubled past. They were a nation, as you remember, constantly under conflict, constantly being taken over. They said, they surrounded like a bunch of bees. Verse 14: The Lord is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation. They realize that their enemies are many, but even though they've confronted their enemies they still have a song and they still have their trust in God as a nation.

Now verse 15 is implying -- The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous. They've come back from captivity and now they're back in their land. They may be living in temporary quarters -- so what -- they're living in freedom. They are out of captivity and they're saying in our tents there are words of rejoicing. Why? Because the right hand of the Lord has done valiantly. We are out of bondage. We are back home. The right hand of the Lord is exalted, and even though it seemed like we were going to die, we didn't die but we're still alive; and our reason for being alive is that we might declare the works of the Lord.

And then he goes on to say, the song says, The Lord has chastened me severely. Yes He did. It was a difficult 70 years. The knew why they were there. They had gone off into idolatry and God said, that's enough. And what they are singing about, God, it's true, we deserved the chastisement and it was severe; seventy long years it was severe, but You didn't let us die. We're still alive and You're still our God.

Look at the next verse. It seems now that the procession, I'm at verse 19, the procession now has proceeded along and we're right here ready to enter the Temple area, and the Temple area has these great big gates. So the leader of the procession look at what he says, Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go through them, and I will praise the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord, through which the righteous shall enter.

Because He's a righteous God and righteous people worship Him, they call those gates to worship the gates of righteousness, and you can see the great procession now. They're right there at the gates of the Temple and they're ready to go in and offer their sacrifice, and so they say to the warders of the gate: Open the gates of the Temple! We're ready to worship our God and to offer our sacrifice. The gates open.

But look at verse 22: The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. Now that's a fascinating verse. Let me give you the historical setting for it. Historians tell us that when they were building that Temple there was a large cumbersome stone, which originally they felt would not fit within the structure they were building. So they set aside, but as they further contemplated the matter they decided it would make a wonderful cornerstone, and I'll tell you why. When you look at Jerusalem it's built upon a plateau. To the east to you have a slope, there's a graveyard along here, the big gates is here, and it goes down into a valley. And over here is Mount of Olives. If you turn to the south, right at the end of the Temple area there's this cliff that just drops. I think it's about 200 feet, and it drops down into what is known as the valley of Hinnom; it's the valley of Gehena. It was the rubbish dump of Jerusalem. It was always burning. It became referenced as hell fire.

So they decided that with this temple what would make the best cornerstone would be this mammoth stone stuck in the southwest corner of the foundation preserving that building from ever slipping down into the valley of hell, and they stuck that cornerstone, that mammoth stone, in the structure. And somehow the sacred poet who is writing this psalm knew of that incident. And he writes, the cornerstone, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. But he sees that picturesquely as his nation. He sees his nation as the stone. A nation that's been rejected, thrown into the four corners of the world, and hated by everybody, then and now. So he sees his nation as the rejected stone, but he's singing now because they realize that in God's divine plan He's brought them one more time back to the sacred city to worship.

Now it's interesting because this is the Scripture verse that Jesus picks up to identify Himself. Go with me to Matthew, Matthew's gospel. Here you have the story of Jesus telling the parable of the vine dresser who leases out his vineyard and when harvest time comes he sends people to collect his portion of the harvest, and they kill some, stone others, and send others away. So here's what Jesus says. Look at what He says in verse 42, Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: 'The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone'? This was the Lord's doing and it's marvelous in our eyes.

Jesus reaches back into this ancient hymn, they took a moment of history, an event in history, likened their selves as a nation to the rejected stone, and Jesus picks up the theme and said I am the rejected stone. Now we know that because go with me to 1 Peter chapter 2 and listen to Peter as he's now writing. He says, Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, "Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame."

Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, "The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone," and "A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense." They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. But ye are a chosen generation."

So Jesus goes back into this ancient hymn and He likens Himself to the stone rejected, but approved of God. Now for our closing picture remember we said this was the hymn that was being sung at the Last Supper. Now I want you get the picture. Jesus and His disciples around the table, they're singing this great hallel, and they come to verse 22. Now these words are falling from the lips of Jesus, The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing; and it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the Lord has made; let's rejoice and be glad in it.

Now think with me. Jesus knows He's referencing Himself. He's singing the hymn. He knows that as the rejected one He's going to be nailed to that cross a few hours. He's going to die, but He with rejoicing and song is singing: This is the work of the Lord, it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the Lord has made. Can you see Him sitting there at the table hours before He's going to hang on a cross? singing this is the day the Lord has made let's all rejoice and be glad in it.

The thing that I marvel at is Jesus moves towards that cross with a song in His heart, and He's rejoicing. The writer of Hebrews says, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, suffered the shame. And that joy comes out in this song has our wonderful Savior prepares to go to the cross.

But look at verse 27, God is the Lord, He has given us light; bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar. You are my God, and I will praise You. Now remember, in that ancient setting they are already up here to the sacrifice, the altar is here, and a they're telling those in charge now here's our sacrifice; put it on the altar and on that altar there are four horns, and they said, you to tie our sacrifice there. We're ready for devotion. We're ready to worship. When Jesus says it, tie the sacrifice to the horns of the altar, what He is saying is take this body and the cords will be those nails, pierced for all mankind. And Jesus completes His work with a song.

What an amazing hymn. Who for the joy went to that cross for us. Isn't it amazing when you see the Bible as ancient Scriptures blend together, tie together the great truths of the New Testament faith.

Now as I was praying I said, God, that's a wonderful story, but what's the main truth that I want to leave with the folks today? And here's what I'm going to suggest, always travel with a song. You go back and Moses when he's crossing the Red Sea he's singing, Exodus 15, the song of Moses. I mean, he's rejoicing; he's singing. Almost on every page of the Psalms you wonder why David was the great man that he was. He was always singing, always singing. You come to Jesus, He had a heart full of song and He went to the cross singing. Go visit old Paul and Silas in prison faced with the possibilities of death, midnight, they start singing.

There's something about a song that in life's deepest darkest moments lifts the heart and gives hope. Isn't that right? There's something about music, something about a song that lifts our heart. You say, Pastor, what song to you sing? Well I already have it marked, I think, in one of these books. It's song 555; here it is. This is a song I want all you folks to sing at my funeral. This is my song. I want you to stand and sing it with all your voice:
Come, we who love the Lord, and let our joys be known, join in the song with sweet accord, join in the song was sweet accord and thus surround the throne, and thus surround the throne. We're marching to Zion!
When I get into a dark period I say, this too will pass because I'm marching to Zion. Beautiful, beautiful Zion; were marching upward to Zion, the wonderful city of God.

What are you saying pastor?. I'm saying when you travel with a song, a song that thrills your heart, and when it seems like all the shades are pulled and the pain is the heaviest, start singing. Jesus is heading for that cross. Bind the sacrifice with cords to the altar. I love You God. Amen? Always travel with a song. Let's pray.

Father in heaven we've taken time now to understand this great hymn and the background. We've got the picture. Everybody is to praise You; we're to thank you from the depths of our being. And even when the journey gets difficult we're to sing and keep singing.

I know, dear God, that there are folks here today where life has robbed them of the song, and in place of the song are tears. Through the tears today help them to find that great hymn that they can sing that revives their faith, lifts their hope, and puts a new spark of joy in their soul.

Jesus, so thrilled are we that when You were faced with the cross You went there with joy and with a song. And we look to that day, that day You provided redemption for us on the cross and we too say, this is the day that You've made. This is the day of redemption. This is the day of forgiveness. This is the day when we can experience Your love. Let's rejoice and let's be glad. Thank you for the song Lord Jesus. And everybody said...God bless you folks, God bless you.