to turn with me now to Psalm 118. Psalm 118. Psalm 118 will be our sermon text this evening. Psalm 118, we'll read the entirety of Psalm 118 together. And then we will look at verses one, two, 13. Psalm 118, we will begin at verse one and go down to the end of verse 29. Dear friends, again, we'll read the entirety of the Psalm together, and we will examine tonight The title of this evening's sermon is Praise Our Loyal Redeemer. Praise Our Loyal Redeemer. Psalm 118, beginning at verse 1. Dear friends, let us read down the word together. These are the words of the living God. God says, O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures of Aaron say, his steadfast love endures forever. Let those who fear the Lord say, his steadfast love endures forever. Out of my distress I called on the Lord. The Lord answered me and set me free. The Lord is on my side. I will not fear what can man do to me. The Lord is on my side as my helper. I shall look and triumph on those who hate me. It is better to take refuge than to trust in princes. All nations surrounded me. In the name of the Lord, I cut them off. They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side. In the name of the Lord, I cut them off. They surrounded me like bees. They went out like a fire among thorns. In the name of the Lord, I cut them off. I was pushed hard so that I was falling, but the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation. Glad songs of salvation are in the tents of the righteous. The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. The right hand of the Lord exalts. The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord. The Lord has disciplined me severely, but he has not given me over to death. Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord. The rancher shall enter through it. I thank you that you have answered me, and have become my salvation. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Save us, we pray, O Lord. O Lord, we pray, give us success. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Lord is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords up to the horns of the altar. You are my God, and I will give thanks to you. You are my God, and I will extol you. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. Dear ones, this is the word of God. Thanks be to God. teaching us how to worship you. We pray stir up our thanksgiving, our joy, our love and admiration unto your God. Father, thank you for the Psalms. We pray, O Lord, that by the truth of who you are and what you have done, that we would see all the more cause to give you praise. O Lord, we pray, remove today any pride, any sloth, any idols, O God, in our lives, Lord, that are hindering us coming near to you to love you, to rejoice in you, to trust in Christ. Father, forgive us of our sin. Open our eyes to see all of your steadfast love and faithfulness culminating in Jesus Christ. Lord Jesus, lead your church to worship you by your Spirit and according to the truth of your word. Because Father, all this we ask in his name, amen. Amen. Dear friends, tonight, stir your heart to Thanksgiving and stir up the hearts of God's people by recalling His holy character, His unfailing faithfulness, and His deliverance. Let us see all this goodness and grace come together in Christ at the cross. Psalm 118 by Yitzhak. Arrangement in the Psalter is the last of what has been known as the Egyptian saints under the Old Covenant would come and they would worship God in His holy place. So recall that God commanded every year that three times a year all the males of Israel would come and gather before the Lord at His appointed place to worship Him. And they would bring their sacrifices and they would gather and they would bring their families to worship the Lord in His holy place in Jerusalem at the temple before the Lord. You recall that even Our Lord Jesus, in his earthly ministry, greatly rejoiced at these festival days, where he would gather with the people to worship God. And it was at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at Passover, where Christ fulfilled the Passover, as he himself became the Paschal Lamb, the soul-sufficient sacrifice to satisfy Now these psalms were sung, these psalms were sung by the people of God, and in fact this was probably the very last psalm that Jesus and the disciples sang as they went out from the upper room to the Garden of Gethsemane. So I say that, dear friends, to remind you and to remind me that these psalms have a vibrant history in the life of God's people. In those seasons where the church and utilize the Psalter in corporate worship, it has been patterned by great health and vitality within the church. And so that's one reason I want to study the Psalter, is that God is teaching us here how to worship Him. And you'll see in Psalm 118, for example, so many quotations in the New Testament. In fact, the greatest quotation is perhaps Psalm 118, verse 22, the stone that the builders rejected by the New Testament authors, finding its fulfillment in Jesus as the stone, the cornerstone, rejected by the leaders, the builders of the nation of Israel. So friends, we will get to that verse next week, but as we look at the first 13 verses, I want you again to see the theme of Thanksgiving. High adoration is in front here. And in verse one, the psalmist is giving thanks, and summoning the people of God, the congregation, to give glory, to give thanks to the Lord. Verse one, oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks, remember, dear friends, thanksgiving, gratitude, is the overflow of the original heart. If we haven't been born again, God has given to us new hearts. If you are a believer, dear one, You have a new affection. There has been birthed within your soul a holy zeal and adoration and love for the Lord. You love Christ. Dear friends, John in his first letter says that a love for God and a love for Christ is essential. That he who does not love God, he who does not love Christ, cannot be called a believer, cannot be called a brother. brings new affections, a new love for God, a new love for Christ, a new love for his church. And out of that new love comes joy and gratitude. Gratitude, dear ones, ought to mark the Christian. Gratitude must mark every believer. So, dear friends, if you find yourself in a rut, if you find yourself feeling joyless, dear ones, let me urge you that the remedy to fresh gratitude. The recipe for an unthankful spirit is the truth of God. O give thanks to the Lord, why? For he is good. Dear friends, again, this is so often repeated in this altar that we can just kind of gloss over it, but be reminded, your God is good. He is great, and he is good. He's not only the Almighty, There is no shadow of turning with God. There is no evil or sin that entices God. There is never any wickedness that ever appeals to Him. Dear friends, imagine what a horror it would be Friends, our God is good. Friends, if God is good, that means a couple of things. If God is good, that means He hates evil. He loves righteousness. He rejoices in the truth. If God is good, then that means He will punish sin. He will not excuse the guilty. Friends, it is the goodness of God, His own holy character, that is governing how He wields If God is all powerful and all good, why does God permit evil? Dear friends, the Christian response is that this God, the Lord our God, ordains, he decrees the evil that he hates for the good that he will bring out of it to his eternal glory. That means sin, evil, pain, and wickedness ultimate good purpose, which is His glory and the good of those who trust in Him. So dear friends, I want you to be confident that your God is good, and He is good to you. Never doubt His character. Friends, this is Christianity 101. Knowing God is holiness. Knowing God is character. If you and God we forget that God is good, that God is holding, God is just, and we have created a God in our own image, in our own likeness, and that is I, Dr. John. So we give thanks to the Lord because we remember that he is good, and also we remember his steadfast love endures forever. God loves loyally. God loves faithfully. God loves faithfully. so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever should believe in him should have eternal life. God sent his son to purchase redemption for his people to save every sinner who would trust in him. That redeeming love God sent We are bound to Christ by his spirit who is this living bond of steadfast love. God loves loyalty. God loves faithfully. God loves permanently. It endures forever. So dear friends, let me put the question before you. Can you trust a God like this? Absolutely. Absolutely, friends. Not only is God Great, he is good. Not only has he been faithful to you, his people in the past, he has been so in the present, and he will not fail to be faithful in the future. Dear friends, one of the greatest attacks of the devil, one of the greatest temptations that we have to sin is to doubt the word of God. That was the fundamental question at the fall. What hath God said? Did God really say that couldn't eat of any tree in the garden? And what did the devil say to Jesus in the wilderness? You see, you are the son of God. Turn these stones into bread, was the devil saying to Christ. But if you're the son of God, I am starving in the wilderness. If God said that you are his beloved son with whom he is well pleased, why are you dying of thirst and hunger in this wilderness? If you're the son of God, use your power. Christ said, it is also written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Jesus trusted the word of God, he trusted his father, he believed the word that the father had spoken to him, and he didn't need to utilize his power. Because in that moment, he was enduring a trial for his people, for the redemption of sinners. But friends, can you trust the Lord? If you can trust the Lord, He is a God of steadfast love. So friends, give thanks to the Lord who loves loyally with tender loving kindness. A repetition. This is very common in Psalm 118. A three-fold repetition. Friends, the Hebrews had ways to emphasize, but they emphasized in ways that we emphasize, by repetition. So think of this as a sort of rhetorical underline, highlight, exclamation mark. The psalmist is driving home that God's steadfast love endures forever. And this is the background. of the believer's hope. This is the foundation of our joy. Our God loves loyally. He loves faithfully. And because of that faithfulness, we will see his sacred promises culminate in his Christ, in his promised Savior. We can see that fulfillment of the steadfast love of God in Christ and his cross. The psalmist says in verse two, let Israel say, He's speaking to the congregation. His steadfast love endures forever. Next, he addresses the house of Aaron, the Levites, who stand and lead the people of God in corporate worship. Remember the role of the Levites of the house of Aaron. Actually, the house of Aaron, this would be the Aaronites. This would be the high priests. The high priests alone were able to bring the sacrifice. It was only the house of Aaron who could tend to the bronze altar. sons of Aaron who could go into the holy place and put the bread at the presence, and trim the altar of incense, and once a year the high priest would go through the veil into the most holy place, to where the Ark of the Covenant was, and there to the very footstool of God, the very picture of the throne of the Holy One in the midst of but the way was not yet open. Because remember that sacrifice had to be done every year. Dear ones, every time you look at the sacrificial system of Israel, I want you to think of Christ. I want you to see the person and work of Christ screaming at you. Because that's what God is doing in these animal sacrifices. He is screaming to you in the most grotesque, bloody, that he is holy, and that you and I are sinners that deserve to be burned on that altar, an altar which was the wrath of God, and yet God in his mercy will provide a substitute, a stand-in, one to bear your guilt, to take that curse, to endure that wrath, and who by his sacrifice would open the way for you into the most the Lord God your maker and your Redeemer. That was the ministry of the household of Aaron. They were entrusted with these holy things. They were entrusted with this gospel pageantry at the temple. They were also entrusted with teaching the people the Word of God. So friends, the house of Aaron as well as the Levites were very much the clergy of There are ones who fear the Lord. What does it mean to fear the Lord? Well, to fear the Lord, in its fundamental sense, means to worship. Those who worship the Lord. But, as is communicated here, it is a certain kind of worship. It is a worship of the Lord with a heart-attitude of reverence and awe. It's a worship that comes born of an understanding of God's glorious The Lord is a recognition of His holiness, our sin, and our need for reconciliation. Dear friends, the fear of the Lord says that we come to God with reverence. We come to Him in awe. We come humbly before Him, trusting His promises, believing His word, hoping in His steadfast love. And we can see how later in the churches, Gentiles, believers, were brought in as Remember the God-fearers? They were those Gentile believers that were included, and they were in the synagogue, worshiping with the Jews, and they were believers in the Word of God, but they hadn't gone through the sign of circumcision. These God-fearers, like Cornelius. Cornelius the Roman centurion. And as they read this, they could understand that God was addressing them. to all the saints, to those who hear and believe the word of God, who hold to His promises, who remember His steadfast love. In verses 5 down to verse 13, the psalmist then recounts his own personal distress, how he was in great danger and how the Lord delivered him. What this reminds us, dear friends, is that our God is faithful to redeem us from the power of the foe. from the power of sin within, from the power of the enemy, enemy without, our God is faithful. And so we can apply this to our own distress, and we can see the Lord has been faithful to deliver us. Verse five, out of my distress I called on the Lord, the Lord answered me and set me free. The Lord is on my side, I will not fear, what can man do to me? Psalms recalls that in his day of distress he cried and petitioned the Lord for mercy, and the Lord graciously delivered him from the power of the foe, from the power of the enemy. And then he remarks, the Lord is on my side, I will not fear, what can man do to me? Guys, God alone makes a majority. He is greater than any, and his power cannot be thwarted, it cannot be stopped, but the Lord is on your side, dear friends. You need not fear what man or devil can do. For he who is for us is greater than he who is against us. You recall that when Joshua was leading the nation of Israel into the Promised Land, they're about to go march on Jericho. You recall that night when Joshua saw a man. He saw one fierce-looking warrior who was the commander of the armies of the Lord, the commander of the Lord of Hosts. And this one came, you recall what Joshua said, he came rather hesitantly. He came to the angel of the Lord and said, Are you with us? Are you for us? Are you for our enemies? And what did the commander of the Lord's army say? No. No. He says, I am the commander of the Lord of hosts. Joshua, the question you need to ask is not, Am I for you? Remember, Joshua was instructed to take off his sandals because he was standing on holy ground. That was a theophany. In fact, it was a Christophany. The incarnate Christ, pre-incarnate Christ, was manifesting his glory there to Joshua in a form that Joshua could see he was beholding the glory of God. Friends, the question is not whether God is The question needs to be that we are on the side of the Lord. If we are on the Lord's side, if we are believing his word, if we are following his son, we're hoping in his steadfast love that we have confidence that the Lord is fighting for his people. The Lord will go before. The Lord will defend. The Lord will protect. I will not fear what command it to me. The believer doesn't live in fear. There is a healthy fear of God. There is an unhealthy fear of man. And while we do need to take caution, and we do need to be wise, and there is a degree of care that we need to take, for instance, at the end of the day, we can have confidence in the Lord, that He holds us fast, that in Christ we are secure, that Christ builds before us. And that should give us a sort of holy boldness in the midst of a world of confusion and fear, that we can stand and say, the Lord is on my side, I will not fear. What can man do to me? Dear ones, let me ask you, what can man do to you? In one respect, man can do a lot to us, can he not? Man can take our property. Man can throw us in prison. Man can destroy our body. Man can take away our food. Man can do all kinds of unspeakable torment to us. But dear friends, if you're in Christ, if you are trusting in Him, If your hope is in the Lord Jesus, in the Holy Spirit, you can understand and rest that they cannot ultimately destroy your soul. And if they can't destroy that, in the end, they've not taken anything. You know, friends, the hope, the great, of the constellation, the blessed hope of the Christian is not simply believing in the Lord. But that is the, as in theology, the intermediate state. That's the in-between time. When we go to heaven before the new creation. Dear friends, there's a day coming when Christ returns and consummates his kingdom. And when Christ returns to consummate his kingdom, there's a great resurrection. There's a resurrection of the unjust, where those who die estranged from God are raised with physical bodies in which to for eternity, the torment of hell. But for those who are in Christ, for those who are believers, we will be raised to joy and receive from Christ a glorified body after His own life. It's a spiritual body with which we will enjoy the Lord and enjoy His people and enjoy this new heavens and new earth that God has created for us to dwell and to love and enjoy forever. In short, friends, the saint of anything. Death has been swallowed up at the resurrection of Christ. Guys, what can man do to me? In the ultimate sense, friends, nothing. Nothing. 7. The Lord is on my side as my helper. I will look on him. I shall look and triumph in those who hate me. victory of the Christian, the Lord is on my side, the Lord is my advocate and my helper, I shall ultimately see his triumph over my enemies. You recall in Psalm 23 how the psalmist David is speaking and relating how the Lord is the host who anoints his head with oil, that his joy cup overflows, the anointing of David's head is in the presence of his enemies. The Lord is honoring David, honoring his people before a defeated foe. Friends, when Christ rose from the dead, that was the triumph. That was the victory that Christ was sounding over the power of darkness, over the power of sin and evil and wickedness. And friends, one day you'll see that triumph in its full. Right now, Jesus reigns at God's right hand. Right now, all of the world is being subjected to the rule of Christ. And though we do not yet see all things in submission to Him, we do see, with eyes of faith in His Word, the same Lord Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the heavenly beings, who in His incarnation condescended to take on flesh to ransom us. Dear friends, with eyes of faith, we can see that in Christ there is faith. Again, friends, Christian walks with a hope. We have a blessed hope of victory. Yes, we can be disheartened at a society that is changing, at a culture that is tearing at the seams. When we see sin and lawlessness about, we can be greatly distressed in our hearts. We can mourn for these things. We can pray for revival. But dear ones, as we're praying and as we're holding Let us not give in to defeat. We shall share, and shall look upon the triumph of those who hate us. We shall share in the triumph of Christ. Friends, these days may be a point for us by God as a time to the condescension of humiliation. The Word of God says that if we share in Christ's humiliation, we'll also share in his honor. If we share in Christ's suffering, we shall share in Christ's comfort, and that is the pattern of the disciple. That is the pattern of the church. Jesus said, if anyone come after me, let him deny himself, pick up his cross daily, and follow me. When Jesus said, pick up your cross daily, he was saying pick up that spectacle, that sign of the cross that was the sign of being publicly dishonored, and shame being made Friends, to take the name of a Christian is to be hated by them. To pick up the cross, take the hands and follow Jesus. Dear friends, when we share in Christ's suffering, we shall share in his comfort. But take hope that there is victory, there is rest that is coming soon. So press it in, do not lose heart. Or say, it is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge than to trust in princes." Notice that two-fold repetition. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than in man. Friends, if this is your God, who is so loyal in His love for you, so good in all of His promises, so strong and able to say, able to do for you all that He's promised, friends, we don't put our ultimate hope in men. We don't put our ultimate hope in princes. Rulers in all those in power and position, dear ones, we don't rest our ultimate hope in them. Our refuge, our strength is the Lord our God. We are resting in Christ. He is far better. For sin all nations surrounded me, in the name of the Lord I cut them off. They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side, in the name of the Lord surrounding you. Dear friends, the scriptures speak of the battle of Armageddon where all the nations surround the Lord and surround his people. Dear friends, remember, man is by nature hostile to God and hostile to Christ. And because man by nature is hostile to Christ, he is hostile to his church. And before the end will come, that hostility will reach its fever pitch. And so friends, what the psalmist is reminding people of God is that there are enemies, foes that surround us. But in the name of the Lord, we can persevere. In the name of the Lord, we can push ahead. We can push back darkness, cutting through. As we walk in love, as we speak the truth, as we glorify God in our families, among our friends and neighbors, as we seek to about God's business of building His church around the world. As we push back against the darkness, we can have confidence in the victory. Verse 12, notice the imagery. They surrounded me like bees. They went out like a fire among thorns. Such a graphic imagery. His adversaries were like a bee nest, a swarm that had come upon him like a fire bursting out of dry thorns that explodes with heat. and power, yet in the name of the Lord, according to the glory of God and His faithfulness, the Lord granted victory and deliverance. I cut them off. Friends, our Lord Jesus declared victory from the empty tomb. Through the cross, He bore the wrath of His earth. He bore your guilt. He carried your shame. He suffered as a sinner, though He had no guilt in and of himself. Our Lord Jesus suffered and died, and he was raised. And in Christ's resurrection and ascension and in the promise of his return, we have fallen. We have a promise of victory. Finally, verse 13, I was pushed hard so that I was fallen, but the Lord helped me. Dear friends, though the saint may for a time fall to his stomach, he will not ultimately be cast off. God promises to complete the good work that he's been telling us. Friends, the perseverance of the saints is not grounded in how tightly we hold to Christ, but rather how tightly he holds to us. Those cords of faithful love, those bonds of loyalty he's passed on you. When the Father gave that decree, this sinner is just in my sight. When he gave that decree from heaven, The moment you believed on Christ, that was irrevocable. He's never gonna go back in and scratch that out. This sinner is just in my son. I was pushed hard, so I was falling, but the Lord helped me. Friends, today, as we go to this week, I want you to be reminded of who your God is, that He is a loyal Redeemer, good and loving God toward us and we can trust Him in every circumstance, in every situation we find ourselves. Whether we as a church be in days of blessing, good days, bountiful days, or whether we be in days of famine, in days of hardship, we can trust that our Lord is loyal in His love. And these things ought to stir up Dear friends, may these truths be with us today, may we be reminded of God's faithfulness, and let us always see that culminating in the cross of Christ. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, please lead your church today. By your spirit, we pray that as your people here at Ginny Lynn, we would be armed with these truths to push back against darkness, to live whole lives before you, to be faithful where you've planted us, and to press on, sharing the word, loving you, pointing others, Father, to your son. And we pray, Father, that in your time, you would save your people, build your church, and glorify your name.