Another Thanksgiving Psalm

WEBVTT 1 00:00:19.870 --> 00:00:26.140 Want to preach on another psalm. I'm today dealing with this theme of Thanksgiving. 2 00:00:27.300 --> 00:00:32.899 I'm you'll hear similar phrases and and words and ideas that we heard this 3 00:00:33.060 --> 00:00:39.450 morning on in Psalm one hundred and thirty six and another passages of scripture that 4 00:00:39.530 --> 00:00:45.850 we've read and heard, Sung and prayed today. Let that be a lesson, 5 00:00:46.409 --> 00:00:50.759 perhaps, the repetition, a reminder of the things that God really, 6 00:00:50.840 --> 00:00:54.240 really, really wants us to remember, the things he really wants us to 7 00:00:54.320 --> 00:01:00.399 pay attention to, to observe and to sing back to him. We turn 8 00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:07.829 to Psalm one hundred and eighteen now and what we hear is a king giving 9 00:01:07.870 --> 00:01:11.909 thanks to God for sell his salvation. So will reflect on that in a 10 00:01:11.989 --> 00:01:15.989 moment. Let's hear God's word. Will give thanks to the Lord for he 11 00:01:15.150 --> 00:01:22.060 is good, for his steadfast love and doers forever. Let Israel say his 12 00:01:22.180 --> 00:01:26.140 steadfast love and doers forever. Let the house of Aaron say his steadfast love 13 00:01:26.219 --> 00:01:32.540 and doers forever. Let those who fear the Lord say his steadfast love endures 14 00:01:32.620 --> 00:01:37.450 forever. Out of my distress, I called on the Lord. The Lord 15 00:01:37.489 --> 00:01:41.769 answered me and set me free. The Lord is on my side. I 16 00:01:42.049 --> 00:01:46.209 will not fear. What can man do to me? The Lord is on 17 00:01:46.329 --> 00:01:49.040 my side as my helper. I shall look in triumph on those who hate 18 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:53.319 me. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in 19 00:01:53.439 --> 00:01:57.799 man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in 20 00:01:57.920 --> 00:02:04.069 princes. All nations surrounded me. In the name of the Lord, I 21 00:02:04.189 --> 00:02:07.950 cut them off. They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side, and 22 00:02:07.509 --> 00:02:12.750 the name of the Lord, I cut them off. They surrounded me like 23 00:02:13.069 --> 00:02:17.419 bees. They went out like a fire among thorns. In the name of 24 00:02:17.460 --> 00:02:23.259 the Lord, I cut them off. I was pushed hard so that I 25 00:02:23.419 --> 00:02:28.939 was falling, but the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength and 26 00:02:30.009 --> 00:02:35.610 my song. He has become my salvation. Glad songs of salvation are in 27 00:02:35.689 --> 00:02:38.610 the tents of the righteous. The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. 28 00:02:38.770 --> 00:02:43.370 The right hand of the Lord Exalts. The right hand of the Lord does 29 00:02:43.449 --> 00:02:50.000 valiantly. I shall not die, but I shall live and recount the deeds 30 00:02:50.080 --> 00:02:54.560 of the Lord. The Lord has disciplined me severely, but he has not 31 00:02:54.759 --> 00:03:00.389 given me over to death. Open to me the gates of righteousness that I 32 00:03:00.509 --> 00:03:05.909 may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord this is the gate of 33 00:03:05.990 --> 00:03:09.229 the Lord. The righteous shall enter through it. I thank you that you 34 00:03:09.310 --> 00:03:15.300 have answered me and have become my salvation. The stone that the builders rejected 35 00:03:15.460 --> 00:03:20.219 has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in 36 00:03:20.300 --> 00:03:23.099 our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us 37 00:03:23.139 --> 00:03:28.650 rejoice and be glad in it. Save us, we pray. Oh Lord, 38 00:03:29.090 --> 00:03:32.330 oh Lord, we pray. Give us success. Blessed is he who 39 00:03:32.370 --> 00:03:36.490 comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the House of 40 00:03:36.569 --> 00:03:40.050 the Lord. The Lord is God and he made and he may and he 41 00:03:40.250 --> 00:03:45.960 has made his light to shine upon US blind the festal sacrifice, with cords 42 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:50.080 up to the horns of the altar. You are my God and I will 43 00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:53.280 give thanks to you. You are my God, I will extol you. 44 00:03:53.840 --> 00:03:57.830 Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for his 45 00:03:57.870 --> 00:04:08.349 steadfast love endures forever. Amen. Well, this morning we looked at a 46 00:04:08.389 --> 00:04:15.780 psalm, we heard a psalm that covered a vast number of things that it's 47 00:04:15.780 --> 00:04:18.860 sort of looked from a very high view at a number of things that God 48 00:04:18.980 --> 00:04:23.860 has done and and gave us a number of reasons to praise God for his 49 00:04:24.220 --> 00:04:30.569 stead fast love. His covenant love, his loving kindness, which guards and 50 00:04:30.689 --> 00:04:35.810 protects and provides in so many ways. Here we have many of those same 51 00:04:35.850 --> 00:04:41.439 ideas, but they are a personalized in a way. There is a person 52 00:04:43.439 --> 00:04:48.959 who is speaking this psalm and has a very pers particular perspective, particular history 53 00:04:49.000 --> 00:04:56.949 which he recounts, and we do not have any specific details about what it 54 00:04:57.029 --> 00:05:00.870 happened, about what who that is or exactly what happened, but he gives 55 00:05:00.910 --> 00:05:05.790 us a sense of what he was delivered from and what God did for him. 56 00:05:08.019 --> 00:05:12.379 So let's take a look at this psalm and will begin at the beginning. 57 00:05:13.939 --> 00:05:18.060 Begins with a call to everyone. He, I think, concludes himself 58 00:05:18.100 --> 00:05:21.329 when he says will give thanks to the Lord for his for you is good. 59 00:05:21.490 --> 00:05:28.209 His steadfast love endures forever. He reminds us that we are to notice 60 00:05:28.290 --> 00:05:33.410 God's steadfast love and praise him for it. Then he calls out to others, 61 00:05:33.490 --> 00:05:38.480 to Israel, to the house of Errand to anyone and everyone who fears 62 00:05:38.519 --> 00:05:41.639 the Lord, as all should do, and he says, let us all 63 00:05:41.879 --> 00:05:47.639 say together, let his steadfast love endures forever, his steadfast love and doors 64 00:05:48.199 --> 00:05:54.670 forever. And then, after this introduction, he begins and to describe his 65 00:05:54.829 --> 00:06:00.310 particular reason for saying these things. I'm there are many different reasons and but 66 00:06:00.389 --> 00:06:03.939 he describes his own here. He says in a general way in verse five, 67 00:06:04.139 --> 00:06:08.379 out of my distress I called to the Lord. The Lord answered me 68 00:06:08.980 --> 00:06:14.579 and set me free. He's describes a situation in which he was in danger. 69 00:06:15.899 --> 00:06:20.370 He describes that danger. I'm in verses eleven through thirteen. The nations 70 00:06:20.689 --> 00:06:25.329 surrounded him. This is one reason it is perhaps right to think of this 71 00:06:25.970 --> 00:06:30.850 person as a king. The Nation's surrounded him. He was in great danger. 72 00:06:30.290 --> 00:06:33.439 I notice that uses this word over and over. They surrounded, they 73 00:06:33.480 --> 00:06:39.879 surrounded, they surrounded me. He even describes them as bees. I've never 74 00:06:39.920 --> 00:06:44.319 been surrounded by bees, but I can imagine perhaps some of you have, 75 00:06:45.439 --> 00:06:48.149 doing yard work or something like that. I've seen aunts, though. I've 76 00:06:48.189 --> 00:06:55.589 seen aunts swarm and surround and it can be a very overwhelming these bees were 77 00:06:55.670 --> 00:07:00.509 surrounding him, they were buzzing, they were, I'm scary, but they 78 00:07:00.589 --> 00:07:08.500 went out like a fire among the thorns. They went strong, but in 79 00:07:08.579 --> 00:07:12.139 the name of the Lord, he cut them off. He cut them off, 80 00:07:12.220 --> 00:07:15.050 I cut them off. He's he's excited, he's rejoicing, he's praising 81 00:07:15.089 --> 00:07:19.610 the Lord for what has happened. I pushed hard, or I was pushed 82 00:07:19.610 --> 00:07:24.250 hard, he's says in verse thirteen, so that I was falling, but 83 00:07:24.410 --> 00:07:31.279 the Lord helped me. He describes this salvation from something that is very serious, 84 00:07:32.199 --> 00:07:38.839 perhaps even near to death. He was falling and yet he lives. 85 00:07:38.879 --> 00:07:42.560 He decays in verse seventeen. I shall not die because of the salvation of 86 00:07:42.639 --> 00:07:46.750 the Lord, but I shall live and I shall live to recount the deeds 87 00:07:46.829 --> 00:07:53.949 of the Lord, the really real reason for living. He reminds us in 88 00:07:54.389 --> 00:07:59.300 the in between verses here that it is right to call on the Lord above 89 00:07:59.379 --> 00:08:03.339 all others. He makes this comparison verses eight and nine. It is better 90 00:08:03.540 --> 00:08:07.019 to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. It is better 91 00:08:07.100 --> 00:08:13.290 to take with refuge in the Lord then to trust in princes. This is 92 00:08:13.329 --> 00:08:18.730 a hard thing to do, I'm sometimes. Perhaps you know this personally. 93 00:08:20.410 --> 00:08:24.970 I'm it is much easier to trust in our work, to trust in the 94 00:08:24.009 --> 00:08:28.879 work of others, to trust other helpers, than to trust in the Lord 95 00:08:30.199 --> 00:08:35.240 himself. Now the Lord, of course, often uses helpers and uses means 96 00:08:35.320 --> 00:08:37.799 to come to our aid, but there's a way in which we often look 97 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:41.309 past him. Is the source of our help. We look away from him, 98 00:08:41.309 --> 00:08:46.549 and especially when he tells us to do hard things and someone promises an 99 00:08:46.590 --> 00:08:52.590 easier path drought. The scriptures we have story after story after story of examples 100 00:08:52.629 --> 00:08:58.500 of kings of God's people making deals with foreign nations, making deals even with 101 00:08:58.659 --> 00:09:05.100 Egypt herself, this place from which God's people were all rescued, and saying 102 00:09:05.139 --> 00:09:09.009 save us, save us. As we've been considering an Ezekiel, this is 103 00:09:09.129 --> 00:09:16.809 exactly what Zechariah did, this installed king, installed by Babylon, seeking to 104 00:09:16.210 --> 00:09:20.929 get out from underneath Babylon's help. And what did he do? He went 105 00:09:20.970 --> 00:09:26.879 to Egypt, sought help from Egypt and did it work. Know, everything 106 00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:33.240 came falling apart. But when we see those who are called to lead God's 107 00:09:33.320 --> 00:09:37.399 people, I'm trust the Lord. In the Old Testament in particular, I 108 00:09:37.440 --> 00:09:43.470 haven't mind these kings. We say many great things, amazing things that the 109 00:09:43.590 --> 00:09:48.909 Lord does. One of the greatest, perhaps the greatest, King, King 110 00:09:48.029 --> 00:09:52.700 David himself, at the very beginning right and we see his character, we 111 00:09:52.779 --> 00:09:56.899 see his trust in the Lord. In that great battle with Goliath, he 112 00:09:58.059 --> 00:10:01.340 knows that the Lord will be the divine warrior the Lord will, will take 113 00:10:01.419 --> 00:10:07.409 care of his people, will conquer this mighty giant, and indeed he does. 114 00:10:09.250 --> 00:10:11.610 What do we have to fear, David says, when we have when 115 00:10:11.649 --> 00:10:18.090 we put our trust in the Lord. There are other great scenes and stories 116 00:10:18.210 --> 00:10:22.440 and the scriptures of these kinds of things. One of my favorites is Jonathan 117 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:26.919 and his armor bear fighting a garrone of Philistines. The scripture say there wasn't 118 00:10:26.919 --> 00:10:33.080 any swords left and no more swords and all the land except this one that 119 00:10:33.279 --> 00:10:39.149 Jonathan and his armor bearer had between them. They go up this crag of 120 00:10:39.269 --> 00:10:45.230 a this rocky cliff, climbing hand and foot, climbing, climbing, climbing 121 00:10:45.309 --> 00:10:48.429 to get to the top. Meanwhile the Philistines are at the top, this 122 00:10:48.590 --> 00:10:52.220 position of advantage, yelling down at Jonathan is armor bear come up and get 123 00:10:52.299 --> 00:10:56.539 us, and probably other things. And they come up to the top and 124 00:10:56.620 --> 00:11:00.860 they slay them all, while the rest of Israel, including King Saul, 125 00:11:01.379 --> 00:11:07.769 is hiding away. The Lord can do magnificent things, powerful things. He 126 00:11:07.929 --> 00:11:13.049 can cut off his enemies so easily and when his people trust in him, 127 00:11:13.090 --> 00:11:18.759 he does exactly that. Through the stories of the Conquest of Joshua, and 128 00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:24.639 we read of the victories of Moses over the Kings as they God led his 129 00:11:24.759 --> 00:11:28.320 people out of Egypt and then, of course, Egypt himself. The stories 130 00:11:28.360 --> 00:11:33.789 they go on and on and on and on, where we see that it 131 00:11:33.950 --> 00:11:39.029 is indeed better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. 132 00:11:39.190 --> 00:11:46.500 And so when this, when the psalmist comes to Vorse rourteen after his deliverance, 133 00:11:46.580 --> 00:11:52.539 he says this. The Lord is my strength and my song, he 134 00:11:52.659 --> 00:12:01.289 has become my salvation. So many times the Psalms speak of singing, of 135 00:12:01.529 --> 00:12:07.730 lifting up our our hearts to the Lord in song and in praise. God 136 00:12:07.809 --> 00:12:13.929 gives to us this gift of music to move our hearts and express the movements 137 00:12:13.009 --> 00:12:16.759 of our hearts. This is a sort of fun passage, at least in 138 00:12:16.879 --> 00:12:20.559 my mind, when we have a song within a song, right. So 139 00:12:20.879 --> 00:12:24.120 Psalm one hundred and eighteen itself a song, and then verses fifteen and sixteen 140 00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:28.039 we have reference to a song, right. So they're singing about singing and 141 00:12:28.159 --> 00:12:33.590 they give a the the the lines from a song here. So Verse Fourteen 142 00:12:33.669 --> 00:12:37.870 says the Lord is my strength and my song. He is become my salvation. 143 00:12:37.309 --> 00:12:41.789 Glad songs of salvation are in the tents of the righteous. Then you 144 00:12:41.830 --> 00:12:48.100 can imagine people of Israel in their tense coming back victorious over battle, singing. 145 00:12:48.580 --> 00:12:52.779 The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. The right hand of the 146 00:12:52.860 --> 00:12:58.570 Lord Exalts, the right hand of the Lord does valiantly. His heart is 147 00:12:58.809 --> 00:13:03.649 full of praise when he sees what the Lord has done. When we reflect 148 00:13:03.809 --> 00:13:07.610 on the things that God has done for us, when we reflect on the 149 00:13:07.690 --> 00:13:13.240 salvation that he brings to us, it fills our hearts with praise and singing. 150 00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:18.440 Then as we come to verse the Seventeen and eighteen, continuing to move 151 00:13:18.559 --> 00:13:26.039 throughs this psalm, we get a little wrinkle here, a new a new 152 00:13:26.679 --> 00:13:33.629 level and understanding of things that we can think about. Here he says, 153 00:13:33.669 --> 00:13:37.149 I shall not die, but I shall live and I will recount the deeds 154 00:13:37.190 --> 00:13:41.340 of the Lord. The Lord has disciplined me severely, but he has not 155 00:13:41.899 --> 00:13:48.779 given me over to death. What we see here, as is was often 156 00:13:48.860 --> 00:13:52.940 true with the kings of Israel, is that the enemies that they faced. 157 00:13:52.019 --> 00:13:58.529 It wasn't a mere political threat, it wasn't just kings doing what kings do, 158 00:13:58.769 --> 00:14:05.210 nations doing what nations do. There was a moral threat and also a 159 00:14:05.409 --> 00:14:11.960 moral victory. Here the PSALMA says, the Lord has disciplined me severely. 160 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:18.159 Something he has done to displease the Lord. He has sinned in some way 161 00:14:18.759 --> 00:14:22.679 and the Lord has disciplined him because of this. Again, in the history 162 00:14:22.759 --> 00:14:26.830 of God's people we see this many times. The kings of the Lord, 163 00:14:26.950 --> 00:14:31.350 these people who are called to shepherd or be under shepherds for the Great Shepherd, 164 00:14:31.389 --> 00:14:37.620 leading their flocks into danger, sometimes into idolatry, sometimes into sexual perversion, 165 00:14:37.860 --> 00:14:43.259 sometimes into injustice, all kinds of different things. Ultimately, as we've 166 00:14:43.259 --> 00:14:48.419 been seeing in Ezekiel, the great judgment of the Lord will come upon Israel 167 00:14:48.059 --> 00:14:54.850 for these things. But this king, he doesn't just want to live another 168 00:14:54.970 --> 00:15:00.409 day, to fight another day. He wants to live and to live for 169 00:15:00.409 --> 00:15:05.169 the Lord. He praises God in verse Seventeen and it says I shall not 170 00:15:05.490 --> 00:15:11.360 die, but I shall live and do what. Fight more, he says, 171 00:15:11.480 --> 00:15:16.320 and recount the deeds of the Lord. He gets to live in this 172 00:15:16.600 --> 00:15:22.830 blessed state of praise and Thanksgiving, even though the threat that came to him 173 00:15:22.870 --> 00:15:28.669 was not just the nation's, but the threat was the Lord himself. The 174 00:15:28.870 --> 00:15:33.429 threat was the Lord who was disciplining him as a result of his sin, 175 00:15:33.750 --> 00:15:41.139 but by God's grace he has victory and salvation. This king doesn't just want 176 00:15:41.179 --> 00:15:46.779 to come home, but he wants to be in a city of righteousness. 177 00:15:46.700 --> 00:15:50.769 He doesn't want to just live to fight another day. He wants to be 178 00:15:50.169 --> 00:15:56.210 in right relationship and a right relationship with the Lord and with others. We 179 00:15:56.370 --> 00:16:00.850 see the expression of that in the coming verses when he says open to me 180 00:16:00.929 --> 00:16:06.679 the gates of righteousness, that I enter through them and give thanks to the 181 00:16:06.919 --> 00:16:11.679 Lord. This is what he wants. He wants a place of enjoyment in 182 00:16:11.879 --> 00:16:18.320 God, a place of victory that is because of God's grace, a place 183 00:16:18.440 --> 00:16:22.990 that is not characterized any longer by his sin and the consequences of it, 184 00:16:22.389 --> 00:16:29.870 but a place that is characterized by righteousness. Verse Twenty. This is the 185 00:16:29.950 --> 00:16:33.940 gate of the Lord. The righteous shall enter through it, and then he 186 00:16:34.100 --> 00:16:38.019 reflects again on his salvation. I thank you that you have answered me and 187 00:16:38.059 --> 00:16:47.019 I become my salvation. A stone that the builders rejected has become the corner 188 00:16:47.169 --> 00:16:51.210 stone. This is marvel this is this is the Lord's doing. It is 189 00:16:51.330 --> 00:16:53.450 marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord is made. 190 00:16:53.809 --> 00:17:00.730 Let us rejoice and be glad in it. It's interesting how he describes now 191 00:17:00.929 --> 00:17:06.440 this salvation, his salvation, in terms of this stone, a stone that 192 00:17:06.559 --> 00:17:11.519 the builders rejected, has become the cornerstone. He describes himself as one who 193 00:17:11.519 --> 00:17:17.029 has been thrown away, as one who has been looked at and judged by 194 00:17:17.589 --> 00:17:22.710 the world, perhaps, and has said this one is useless, we don't 195 00:17:22.789 --> 00:17:26.950 need it, a one rejected by the world. And yet that very stone 196 00:17:26.069 --> 00:17:33.339 that God takes becomes the cornerstone, the most important stone, the stone by 197 00:17:33.380 --> 00:17:38.380 which the whole rest of a building is built, the corner stone that lays 198 00:17:38.500 --> 00:17:44.490 the foundations, in the dimensions of this great thing that God will do. 199 00:17:45.210 --> 00:17:52.250 How can one who is rejected by the world becomes so precious and important in 200 00:17:52.730 --> 00:17:57.210 the work in in become precious and important? The answer is verse Twenty Three. 201 00:17:57.329 --> 00:18:03.680 This is the Lord's doing. You don't take rejected, humble, defeated, 202 00:18:03.920 --> 00:18:08.000 falling things and turn them into great things, unless, of course, 203 00:18:08.480 --> 00:18:18.109 you are the Great Lord. He describes this work has marvelous and its eyes, 204 00:18:18.349 --> 00:18:22.549 or in our eyes. When's the last time you looked at something and 205 00:18:22.470 --> 00:18:30.819 you described it as marvelous? Clouds, maybe a visit to the Grand Canyon, 206 00:18:33.140 --> 00:18:38.859 the flowers and springtime, or maybe some great act of salvation, some 207 00:18:40.420 --> 00:18:45.890 surprising, amazing, unexpected event which turns out from something that was so bad 208 00:18:47.130 --> 00:18:52.690 and some tragic to something that is so amazingly good you hardly have the words 209 00:18:53.289 --> 00:19:03.440 to express it. This is marvelous, stunning, a splendid this day of 210 00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:07.039 salvation, this rescue, he describes in Verse Twenty Four, is a day 211 00:19:07.160 --> 00:19:11.269 that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. 212 00:19:11.710 --> 00:19:15.910 Perhaps you've heard that verse before. It's a very common verse and used in 213 00:19:17.029 --> 00:19:21.309 various different places. A lot of times when we hear it we think about 214 00:19:21.670 --> 00:19:26.819 the the the creative work of the Lord or the providential sustaining of each and 215 00:19:26.940 --> 00:19:30.619 every day, and certainly that's true. Every day we can wake up and 216 00:19:30.740 --> 00:19:34.099 say this is the day that the Lord is made, let us rejoice and 217 00:19:34.180 --> 00:19:40.089 be glad in it. But here it had there's another level of meaning. 218 00:19:40.210 --> 00:19:44.250 This isn't just a day that the Lord is made yet or as another one 219 00:19:44.369 --> 00:19:47.970 of the many days that he makes that we ought to be rejoicing and be 220 00:19:48.089 --> 00:19:51.609 glad in it. But this is a day that was very dark. This 221 00:19:51.809 --> 00:19:53.680 was a day in which death was at the door. This was the day 222 00:19:53.720 --> 00:20:00.519 when the nations were surrounding him like bees, and now everything's okay. Now 223 00:20:00.640 --> 00:20:04.720 they are gone, they are vanquished. It is a day of salvation, 224 00:20:07.230 --> 00:20:14.670 so let us rejoice and be glad in it. He makes all days and 225 00:20:14.829 --> 00:20:21.700 he made this day a very special one. In the light of this Thanksgiving 226 00:20:21.700 --> 00:20:26.140 and praise, in the light of this great redemptive, saving work of God, 227 00:20:26.900 --> 00:20:30.059 he now says to the Lord in Verse Twenty Five, Save Us, 228 00:20:30.339 --> 00:20:33.740 we pray, oh Lord, oh Lord, we pray, give us success. 229 00:20:36.130 --> 00:20:37.369 He has a sense that, as of the one who has read and 230 00:20:37.490 --> 00:20:41.490 rescued in the Lord, he is one who needs to continue to abide in 231 00:20:41.569 --> 00:20:48.529 the Lord. How often, like the ten lepers who were healed by Jesus 232 00:20:48.650 --> 00:20:55.400 and none of them except one, returned, we're like that. We receive 233 00:20:55.559 --> 00:21:00.599 a great salvation, we receive these amazing blessings and then we say, well, 234 00:21:00.680 --> 00:21:04.349 nothing, we don't do anything, we don't return and give thanks, 235 00:21:04.430 --> 00:21:07.630 we don't look at the things that we've been given the day that we have 236 00:21:07.990 --> 00:21:14.549 the salvation we have and give though God thanks for it. We not only 237 00:21:14.589 --> 00:21:17.750 need to give him thanks, but we must remember that it's only by His 238 00:21:17.950 --> 00:21:22.980 grace that we continue. We need to continue to look to him, not 239 00:21:23.140 --> 00:21:27.380 just once and now, now and again, not just when we're in times 240 00:21:27.460 --> 00:21:32.930 of great trouble, but at all times. When he says it's better to 241 00:21:33.009 --> 00:21:36.049 take refuge in the Lord and the trust and man, he doesn't just mean 242 00:21:36.650 --> 00:21:41.130 some of the time, means all of the time. And so this desired 243 00:21:41.250 --> 00:21:48.960 and continued success must be maintained by the Lord himself. And so, now, 244 00:21:49.319 --> 00:21:55.000 knowing that God answer this these prayers, he finishes the Psalm by speaking 245 00:21:55.079 --> 00:22:00.359 of those who are who receive this salvation. He says, and he speaks 246 00:22:00.359 --> 00:22:03.630 to it in terms of worship and temple worship. Blessed is he who comes 247 00:22:03.710 --> 00:22:07.670 in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the House of the 248 00:22:07.829 --> 00:22:14.549 Lord. The one who is saved comes into the presence of God and comes 249 00:22:14.630 --> 00:22:18.140 into the presence of God with others. It's like we look up and we 250 00:22:18.259 --> 00:22:22.740 look around and we realize that God hasn't just saved me, he saved a 251 00:22:22.819 --> 00:22:26.140 whole host of people and we belong not just to the Lord, but to 252 00:22:26.220 --> 00:22:30.930 the great family of the Lord, the House of the Lord on which his 253 00:22:30.410 --> 00:22:36.890 he has placed his name. We find that we're not just there stammering out 254 00:22:36.930 --> 00:22:41.250 our praise all alone, but we are joined with the angels, we are 255 00:22:41.289 --> 00:22:47.079 joined with saints, we are joined with the elders who, as we sang 256 00:22:47.160 --> 00:22:52.720 earlier, cast down their crowns in worship of the great king. The Lord 257 00:22:52.920 --> 00:22:56.359 is God, he says in Verse Twenty, and he made us and he 258 00:22:56.480 --> 00:23:00.910 has made his light to shone upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice, with 259 00:23:02.029 --> 00:23:07.670 cords up to the horns of the altar. We come to God and we 260 00:23:07.829 --> 00:23:11.940 come with all offering and with worship and with praise, seeking the Lord and 261 00:23:12.259 --> 00:23:18.259 his presence continually. And then, finally, the psalmist concludes and he says, 262 00:23:19.900 --> 00:23:25.859 you are my God, just so simple but so rich. You are 263 00:23:25.980 --> 00:23:30.329 my God and I will give thanks to you. You are my God, 264 00:23:30.650 --> 00:23:33.009 I will extore you. And then he turns to all of us and says, 265 00:23:33.210 --> 00:23:37.329 Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for 266 00:23:37.450 --> 00:23:42.519 his steadfast love and do hers forever. And we all say a man right, 267 00:23:42.640 --> 00:23:45.759 we all say Amen, this is right, and we're here right along 268 00:23:45.759 --> 00:23:52.240 with you, brother. We're here as those who have likewise been saved, 269 00:23:52.680 --> 00:23:59.109 and the salvation that we have received through King Jesus, this son of David, 270 00:23:59.269 --> 00:24:03.750 this one who is promised to come and establish an eternal kingdom forever, 271 00:24:04.230 --> 00:24:10.539 takes this whole Psalm and moves it up a register, takes the whole Psalm 272 00:24:10.700 --> 00:24:15.819 and and gives even more light to what we have in this God who has 273 00:24:15.900 --> 00:24:22.660 saved us. Peter Talks about this corner stone as one who has been rejected, 274 00:24:22.700 --> 00:24:27.730 and he speaks of Christ himself, and and rightly so. Jesus is 275 00:24:27.849 --> 00:24:34.170 a cornerstone who was rejected like no other has been rejected. The world despised 276 00:24:34.210 --> 00:24:38.440 him, his own people to turned on him, his own disciples rejected him 277 00:24:38.519 --> 00:24:48.240 and betrayed him. From Judas to Peter, he hung on a cross naked. 278 00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:56.549 He hung on across a bruised and bloody hung among criminals, to be 279 00:24:56.670 --> 00:25:00.230 gawcked at by people, to be an example of what you should never be 280 00:25:00.589 --> 00:25:07.180 and to turn away from with disgust. But this one who was rejected, 281 00:25:07.420 --> 00:25:17.700 became the cornerstone, not just for a season or a time, but forever, 282 00:25:18.740 --> 00:25:25.130 to be the glorious king over all the people forever and forever. Peter 283 00:25:25.329 --> 00:25:30.329 says that, as he is the cornerstone, we are like living stones built 284 00:25:30.569 --> 00:25:38.160 on him into a temple in which the living God dwells forever. This communion 285 00:25:38.319 --> 00:25:42.880 and closeness, this these gates of righteousness, this coming into the House of 286 00:25:42.960 --> 00:25:48.440 the Lord, all of these images are fulfilled in the Lord and in us, 287 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:55.869 as we are in him. We get to participate not just as citizens 288 00:25:55.950 --> 00:26:00.670 of the city but in a way as the city itself. In some amazing 289 00:26:00.869 --> 00:26:04.380 way, God unites us with him and binds us to him and so that 290 00:26:04.500 --> 00:26:11.420 his light shines upon us, his glory shines upon us. In the face 291 00:26:11.539 --> 00:26:19.170 of Jesus Christ, our Savior, this should result in more praise, more 292 00:26:19.369 --> 00:26:26.289 rejoicing, more extolling of the goodness of God. We've not just been saved 293 00:26:26.329 --> 00:26:30.970 from a monchering nation for a time, until the king disobeys again and we 294 00:26:32.130 --> 00:26:37.440 find ourselves in more trouble, but we find ourselves saved forever, because our 295 00:26:37.599 --> 00:26:44.079 king is not like the human kings who came before. This human king is 296 00:26:44.200 --> 00:26:48.750 also a divine king. The grace of the Lord is steadfast love. That 297 00:26:48.869 --> 00:26:56.269 is seen in this psalm is amplified in a great way in Jesus. Jesus 298 00:26:56.349 --> 00:27:02.339 shows us his steadfast love in this psalm as the one who disciplines conquers, 299 00:27:02.819 --> 00:27:10.539 strengthens, obtains victory. He is the divine warrior. I'm defeating these bees, 300 00:27:11.259 --> 00:27:17.930 defeating the nations, but he is also the one who is defeated. 301 00:27:18.930 --> 00:27:22.690 He is also the one who takes on our sins, the one who never 302 00:27:22.849 --> 00:27:33.079 did anything wrong and yet was severely a disciplined but even unto death so that 303 00:27:33.160 --> 00:27:41.839 we would not have to die. Jesus suffers, Jesus endures these things on 304 00:27:41.920 --> 00:27:48.230 our behalf so that we can have a kingdom and a king and a priest 305 00:27:48.150 --> 00:27:56.910 that is forever. We are about to go and participate pay together in the 306 00:27:56.990 --> 00:28:04.339 Lord's Supper, sometimes called the Eucharist, a word that means thanksgiving. This 307 00:28:04.700 --> 00:28:11.259 thanksgiving table is one that is set in victory. It is called this because 308 00:28:11.339 --> 00:28:17.329 we have a lot to give thanks for, as in Psalm Twenty three, 309 00:28:17.490 --> 00:28:22.289 the Lord says that he sets a table in the midst of our enemies, 310 00:28:22.410 --> 00:28:26.160 and this is exactly what he does in the Lord's supper. He sets a 311 00:28:26.279 --> 00:28:30.039 table in the midst of a watching world, in the midst of a world 312 00:28:30.119 --> 00:28:36.000 that is full of spiritual powers that would seek to do us harm. But 313 00:28:36.160 --> 00:28:41.230 we don't come scared, we don't come worried, we come with Thanksgiving and 314 00:28:42.190 --> 00:28:47.829 praise, knowing that the Lord is our host and that as we come, 315 00:28:47.990 --> 00:28:51.549 we come together. As we come, we come as those who belong to 316 00:28:51.589 --> 00:28:53.990 the House of the Lord, who bear his name, is a family of 317 00:28:55.069 --> 00:29:00.859 the righteous who have been saved even from death itself. So, as we 318 00:29:00.980 --> 00:29:04.819 gather around the table now, as we receive these promises that the Lord gives 319 00:29:04.900 --> 00:29:11.250 to us by faith, let us find in him our salvation, let's find 320 00:29:11.329 --> 00:29:15.890 in him alone our salvation and not put our trust in the things in this 321 00:29:17.049 --> 00:29:21.930 world, but take refuge entirely in him. Let's pray and ask that the 322 00:29:22.009 --> 00:29:22.329 Lord would grant us these things.