If you have your Bibles, please turn with me to that psalm now, Psalm 118, for our Old Testament Scripture reading, and our text for our sermon this morning. Psalm 118. Hear now the word of our God. O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, because His mercy endureth forever. Let Israel now say that His mercy 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. I called upon the Lord in distress. The Lord answered me and set me in a large place. The Lord is on my side. I will not fear. What can man do unto 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 come past me about, but in the name of the Lord will I destroy them. They come past me about, yea, they come past me about, but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. They come past me about like bees, They are quenched as the fire of thorns, for in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might fall, but the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength and my song and is become my salvation. The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous. The right hand of the Lord doth valiantly The right hand of the Lord is exalted. The right hand of the Lord doth valiantly. I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord. The Lord hath chastened me sore, but he hath not given me over unto death. Open to me the gates of righteousness, and 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. The stone which the builders refused is become the headstone of the corner. This is the Lord's doing. It is 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, O Lord. O 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 shown 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. O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good. For his mercy endureth forever. Our New Testament scripture reading is found in 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2, beginning in verse 1. Wherefore, laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby. If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious, to whom coming as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore, behold, also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you, therefore, which believe, he is precious. But unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, on holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God. which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. The grass withers, the flower falls, but God's Word abides forever. Amen. Please be seated. Let us ask for the Lord's blessing and illumination as we consider now the text before us, Psalm 118. Father in Heaven, we do come before you and we do thank you, O Lord, that you have called us to be a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a special people, that we may declare Your praises. We do pray that You would enable us now, as we consider this psalm of praise, the psalm of testimony, the psalm of declaration of Your mercy, Your chesed, Your covenant faithfulness, Your loving kindness, as we consider this psalm May You impart it into our hearts and into our lives, that it may not be just on the page, but, O Lord, implant it into our hearts. Put it on our lips, that we may truly sing these praises unto Thee. These same praises that Jesus Christ Himself sung on that faithful night before His death. We pray that You would enable us to also sing in faith this psalm. We ask this in Christ's name. Amen. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, while we pass through another Olympic season, I don't know how many of you follow the Olympics or watch any of it on television, but one of the questions that arose in my mind as I was considering both the Winter Games and also in the Summer Olympics, why is it that it's so captivating? Why is it that we spend time watching complete strangers? I don't think any of us know or any of those athletes. Maybe once in a while we meet a stranger or we meet an athlete and we actually are no longer a stranger but someone we know. But for the most part, they are complete strangers to us. As a matter of fact, that is why, if you notice, the network does these special intro stories to develop in us a connection with these athletes. Have you noticed that? Why is that? Well, because we don't know them from Adam. And so, in order for us to root for them, one of the things is that we need to know them. Also, why is it that these events that we normally don't even give two seconds thought captivate our mind. I don't know about you but I'm not really into ice skating. I'm not really into taking this round thing and throwing it on the ice and seeing if I can set it at a certain point. There's a number of events in the Winter Olympics that normally I don't know anything about and I really don't care about. But why is it all of a sudden it's on in the Olympics and now I'm interested, I'm learning about these particular things. What is it that draws me in to that? What is it about this event or these events? Also, these games are so far away from our day-to-day lives. But yet, we enter into their lives and into their accomplishments. We grieve if they fail. Remember the old statement? The agony of defeat and the guy getting messed up with his crash. He probably crashed once in his life, but over and over again, we watched his failure. We grieve at their failures. We celebrate when they succeed. We participate in their victory. Why? Well, because they represent our country, right? Our nation. There's always a medal score. Well, the United States has so many golds and so many silvers. They represent us. And so, we enter into their lives. We find it captivating as we get to know and as we participate in their lives. Well, this is so. But what is more important, much more important, is participating and entering into the life of Jesus Christ. who is greater than any athlete will ever be. In our psalm this morning, in Psalm 118, we find a declaration, a revelation of the victory of Jesus Christ. We see His prayer from verses 5 all the way through verse 21 in particular. We hear prophetically a thousand years before the coming of Jesus Christ, a declaration concerning His life and his victory. And so let us enter in this morning into the life of Christ as revealed now in this psalm. And let us also understand that we identified with Christ in his praise of his father. My proposition is there in the outline before you. Mankind's calling to praise the Lord included the Lord's anointed, the Lord's Messiah. In this psalm, we join with him as he lifts his voice in praise and thanksgiving. In the process, our faith is encouraged and we learn, by example, how to worship the Lord. We are in Book 5 of the Book of Psalms and we're coming to the end of a series of praises. Some call this the Egyptian Hallel or the Egyptian praises, Psalms 1 11 through 118. Here we come to 118, and it is the concluding psalm. James May, in his commentary, speaks concerning this psalm amongst the others and comparing them, says the following. The cycle begins in Psalm 113. I'm sorry, I correct myself. Psalm 113. And its praise of the Lord is the God who reverses the fixed arrangements of human affairs. by lifting up the lowly, the needy, and the helpless. Psalm 114 tells the story of the Exodus as the manifestation of the Lord's rule in the world. Psalm 115 contrasts the Lord as Israel's help to the nations and their gods. Psalm 116 thanks the Lord for deliverance from death. And Psalm 117 calls on all the nations to praise the Lord. Every one of the first five psalms in the cycle anticipate themes and motifs of Psalm 118. In other words, Psalm 118 brings them all together. It is the concluding psalm of praise in a series of praises. So, let us consider our psalm. The very beginning of the psalm, those first four verses that, if you haven't noticed, I read twice. I used it as a call to worship this morning and we read in our Scripture reading, it is a call. It is a call to praise the Lord's mercy. Remember Psalm 117. In our study last week, the focus of that very small psalm is, for His merciful kindness, His chesed, is great toward us. We are to praise the Lord because His mercy, what was the word that I used? Is strong? Is a champion? perseveres for us. Here we find in Psalm 118 an exposition of that statement in Psalm 117. For His mercy is great towards us, and so we are called to praise the Lord, give thanks unto the Lord, for His mercy endures forever. And so all nations in Psalm 117, not just the redeemed, but all nations are called to praise the Lord. And so here we hear this call, not just the nations, but in Psalm 118 in particular, we are called as God's people. We are especially called to praise the Lord. We are called three times in the psalm to praise the Lord. Let Israel now say. Let the house of Aaron now say. Let them that fear the Lord now say. Here we find the invitation, the threefold invitation of God The whole nation, the people of God are called to give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. But my question to you this morning is who is doing the calling? Notice in the psalm, there's no title on this one. Now, there's arguments. Some say that this is a psalm of David and this is a psalm about David. And as we study the life of David, you could say, yeah, this psalm does reflect in many ways the life of David and his struggles and difficulties and victory. But the psalm is untitled. We don't know if it was written by David. Who is it that's calling us? Is it a king of Israel? Is it one of the kings of Israel? For this psalm reflects that of the king's victories over his enemies and his entering into the temple to worship. in the sanctuary?" Yes, that is true. But, is that who is calling us? I would say, no. Is it the priests or worship leaders that are calling us to praise? And the answer is no. The person calling is found in verse 5. Who is it that's calling us? I called upon the Lord in distress. The Lord answered me and set me in a large place." The person who called, I will argue this morning, is the Lord Jesus Christ, who calls us to join Him in His praise, in His worship of the Father. Now, that may seem strange in a sense. Well, Jesus is God, and Jesus receives worship. But yet we are told by the writer to the book of Hebrews that Jesus himself will sing praise unto God. Hebrews chapter 2. Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. I find that passage fascinating to consider Jesus Christ singing praise unto the Father. And notice it says in that passage, where is he? He's in the middle of the church. He's standing in the midst of the church and is singing praise unto God. And so, in many ways, what we find in our psalm this morning is Jesus Christ singing praise unto God. We find the contents of this praise. And if you think, I'm really going out on a limb on this. Historically, Jesus Christ sang this psalm the night in which He was betrayed. Psalm 118 was the last of these psalms that was sung in the celebration of Passover. And we hear recorded in Matthew 26, verse 30, that they sang a hymn and then He went out to the Mount of Olives. That hymn was Psalm 118. It was the last psalm that was sung at the very end of the celebration of Passover. So in the midst of His own disciples, Jesus Christ sang this particular psalm before He went to the cross. And as we look, we will realize, we should realize, that His death and His resurrection is prophesied, is declared in our psalm this morning. So let us join the Savior, the Messiah, as he publicly professes his faith and his victory. Beginning in verse 5, we find the theme of this song. I called upon the Lord in distress. The Lord answered me and set me in a large place. I was in distress. I was in straits. I was bound. I was pressed. I was surrounded. I was in a narrow place. I called upon the Lord in faith, and the Lord answered me, and He set me in a broad, or a roomy place." He goes on to say, the Lord is on my side. I will not fear. What can man do to me? The Lord taketh my part with them that help me. Therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me. As Jesus Christ is singing that song, facing the garden, facing the trial, facing the cross, facing the wrath of God, would you not describe it as a narrow place? As a place of distress? And yet, Jesus sings. the Lord answered me and set me in a broad place. For the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame." His trouble, His deliverance are both mentioned, are both declared in the Psalms. He goes on, not only to glorify and to praise and to thank the Lord for past deliverances, but he goes on into the present. Verses 10, 11, 12, 15-16. All the nations come past me about, but in the name of the Lord will I destroy them. They come past me about, yea, they come past me about, but in the name of the Lord will I destroy them. They come past me about like bees They are quenched as the fire of thorns. For in the name of the Lord, I will destroy them." What is the time that he's talking about? The future. He's dealing with a present problem and speaks of a future deliverance. And so, he declares, in the past, when I was in trouble, the Lord helped. I'm in trouble now. The Lord will enable me to destroy them. Later on, in verses 15 and 16, he refers to the strength of the Lord as the ability given to him or the one who delivers him. And he uses, in particular, the language of the right hand of the Lord, which does valiantly. That's exalted and does valiantly. And so the first theme that we find in this account or in this praise is that of deliverance. The second focuses on the source. of that deliverance or the source of strength. Now notice, it doesn't just say that the Lord will deliver me. What does He say? He says, I will destroy them. In the name of the Lord, I will destroy them. Yes, it is the Lord who gives me the strength, but He calls me to the battle. He calls me to fight the good fight of faith, and He enables me. It is His right hand that does valiantly, but yet I will destroy them. We see the strength of the Lord is His object of His faith, and that which enables Him to overcome. The third theme is a theme that's pointing towards the future, verses 17 and 18. I shall not die, but live. and declare the works of the Lord. The Lord hath chastened me sore, but He has not given me over unto death." Now, you could say, now wait a second, how can that apply to Jesus Christ and the night before He was betrayed? Because He died. Is there a contradiction here? The psalmist says, I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord. The psalmist acknowledges that he is experiencing chastisement, chastising from the Lord, but he says that he will not experience death. The Lord will discipline me, but I will not die. But the question really is, in the mind of the psalmist, is this death that he is referring to a temporary thing or a permanent thing? In the mind of the Old Testament saints, death was permanent, wasn't it? This being given over to death of dying was a permanent thing. Did our Lord Jesus Christ die? And is He still in the grave? Is He still dead? Has He been given over to death? Well, He died in our place and for our sins, but He rose again according to the Scriptures. As a matter of fact, in verse 22, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. That particular passage is quoted again and again in reference to Jesus Christ, that his sufferings was a identification or a manifestation that he was the Messiah. Before the priest, he declared this, he quoted this statement saying, you builders have rejected the stone. You have rejected me. And it's a signification that I am the one who is singing this song. In the rejection of Christ, in His death, in His sufferings, the stone was rejected. But that stone was not cast aside forever, but became the cornerstone, the foundation, Paul says. Jesus Christ, the head of the corner. And so, although Jesus tasted death He did not remain in death. The death had no victory over Him. He overcame death. And so He could say, open to Me the gates of righteousness and I will go into them and I will praise the Lord. And so we find, and the church has always found in these statements, a hope. So we see the declaration of the Messiah past deliverance, present strength, and future hope as he praises his father. Now, the psalm, although there is this large section with these statements from the individual leading in praise, the psalm is not just about the individual, but the psalm moves towards our participation as well. The pronouns change there in verse 22 and further to us. And so, in other words, the psalmist says that we participate with Christ in his praise. Just even more so than the Olympics, we participate in Christ in what he did. Our salvation is based upon his completed work His life, His death, His resurrection. So, we are found in Him. Otherwise, we have no hope, no salvation. And so, here we hear this call of Christ to be admitted into the courts of the Lord, based upon His righteousness, verses 19-21. He who, through suffering, Scripture says in Hebrews, was perfected through suffering, based upon the Lord's salvation, He entered in to the gates of righteousness. He entered into the heavenly throne. And we, in Christ, join. Do we not? Paul says, we are seated in heavenly places in Christ. And so we also, even now positionally, and those that have gone before in reality, are with Him in those heavenly places in righteousness, the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He is our righteousness. And here we find His fulfilling of His vow, found in verses 21 and 28. I will praise Thee, for Thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation. And again in verse 28, Thou art my God and I will praise Thee. Thou art my God and I will exalt Thee. He fulfills His vow and we join with Him. We acknowledge His wonderful acts. We acknowledge that He was the stone which the builders rejected that had become the headstone of the corner We acknowledge this is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. Now stop and think about that. How can it be that a stone being rejected by the builders is something marvelous? That doesn't make any sense, does it? I'm working along on a building and I find a piece of material that I want to use in the building and I find it to be deficient. And so I throw it aside and I don't use it. And the scripture says that's a great thing. It doesn't make sense, does it? Natural man would say that's silly. Why would casting aside of a worthless piece of building material be something that's marvelous, wonderful, glorious in our eyes? Why is that? Because the foolishness of God is wiser, is more glorious. and the wisdom of man. It is through the rejection of that stone cast away by the builders, by the high priests. It is because of their act of casting it away that salvation was wrought in the world. It is a marvelous thing. Why is it that we cling to a cross? A cross was a horrible means of execution. And yet, we glory in the cross. Why is that? Because we understand that because there's a cross, we have forgiveness. Because there's a cross, we are accepted in the Beloved. And so, the stone which the builders rejected becomes the head of the corner of the foundation of the church of God, the people of God. This is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. Peter understood this passage to apply to Christ so well, and he declares it to the rulers in Israel, recorded in Acts chapter 4. Be it known unto you all And to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other. for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." Do you hear that? Peter understands this rejection of Christ by the religious leaders was marvelous, was the basis of our salvation. And so we join with Christ in celebrating and praising the wonderful acts of God. We acknowledge His coming. Again, another passage that's quoted again and again in the New Testament is verse 26. Blessed be He that cometh in the name of the Lord. Have you heard that statement? Where have you heard that statement? Where in particular in the life of Christ did you hear that statement? In His entrance into Jerusalem. The declaration. And what did the religious leaders say about that? They told Jesus to shut them up. Don't let them say that. What are they doing? They're applying Psalm 118 to you, Jesus of Nazareth. Blessed be He who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed be the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Through that coming comes our salvation. And we acknowledge and join in His sacrifice. Bind the sacrifice, verse 27, with cords, even unto the horns of the altar. And so we acknowledge and we join in rejoicing with Christ in that He has revealed this truth to us. Now, when I read this psalm, when I first read it this week, I found it to be It seemed to me just a bunch of different truths just kind of all piled in there together. Oh, those are great verses. I want to memorize that one. I know that one. And oh, that's a good one. But there is a connectivity to this song. All of these stray verses or wonderful statements all come together in one praise of the Lord. But also, as I said before, this song is not only the psalm of Jesus Christ, but we identify with Him. And so, as we consider this psalm, and this psalm about Christ, for those in Christ, for those that are trusting in Christ, we also should and can sing this psalm. I called upon the Lord in distress. The Lord answered me and set me in a large place. I was in a narrow. I was in straits. How about you? Are you in a strait now? Are you in distress now? Are you struggling now? Well, if not, sometime later on, you probably will be. I can't guarantee it, but the way that things work in this life. In those times of distress and strait, what do you do? I called upon the Lord, and He answered me. The Lord is at my side. I will not fear. What can man do to me? What did they do to Christ? They killed Him, but He rose again. The Lord takes my part with them that help me. Therefore, I shall see my desire upon them that hate me. In the warfare that we face, and Paul says, we are at war. We are commanded to take up the whole armor of God and to stand. In the warfare that we face, we can pray this prayer. In the name of the Lord, I will destroy them. In the name of the Lord, I will destroy them. In the name of the Lord, I will destroy them. The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. The right hand of the Lord is exalted. The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. I shall not die but live and declare the works of the Lord. In our afflictions, in our testings, in the warfare that we face, the war that we face fighting the flesh, the world and the devil. We are equipped here in this psalm to confess the strength of the Lord. We can rejoice in the victory. We can rejoice in hope. I shall not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord. The Lord has chastened me, but He has not given me over unto death. Is that true? My body may stop working. but He has not given me over to separation from Him. I am in Christ. Though my body may fail, my glory, my life is bound up in Christ. Furthermore, in this psalm, we hear this call of holiness. Open to me the gates of righteousness and I will go into them and I will praise the Lord. This gate of the Lord into which the righteous shall enter." It's a prayer that we should pray. Lord, open to me the gates of righteousness. Open and call me to a righteous living. The gates are open for the righteous. Well, I'm not righteous in myself, that's true, but I'm righteous in Christ. And you call me to holiness. Our salvation is unto holiness and righteousness. And also we find in this psalm useful for us to remember our glory, our future, our hope is in Christ and our hope is filled with joy. This psalm of praise is useful in teaching us and enabling us to live in Christ and rejoice with him. To close, I'll read what Calvin, I'll mention what Calvin had to say about this psalm. We, whose life is hid with Christ in God, ought to meditate on this psalm all the days of our lives. And I would say amen to Calvin. Shall we pray? Father in heaven, we do thank you for this wonderful psalm, written so many years before, connecting with It's seemingly one of the kings of Israel, but ultimately connecting with the Lord Jesus Christ. A psalm that he sung before he died, and a song that we can sing as we go through our daily lives. Would you pray, O Lord, that you would strengthen our faith in you, that you would enable us to be able to sing, to cry, to call, to rejoice, to trust, and to hope. We pray that you would enable us through your spirit and through this portion of your word that this psalm would be part of our lives. As Calvin said, that we would meditate on it all the days of our lives and we would be able to confess it, confess you before man. We do pray that you would do that work within us. We do thank you, Lord, for the gifts, the multitude of gifts that you've given us through Christ and help us, O Lord, to live in joy and in thankfulness and in praise. We ask this in Christ's name. Amen.