Got Gratitude?
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[SLIDE 1] Introduction
If you have your Bible, then please turn to Psalm 118:1-29.
Illustration
Since it is Thanksgiving weekend, my mind was immediately drawn to the topic of gratitude or thanksgiving.
Biblical Theology
Context
Why I chose Psalm 118 is because…well..you don’t want me to preach Psalm 119 since it’s the longest chapter in the whole Bible…with 176 verses…we’ll be here all day.
I chose Psalm 118 because it is one of the best passages that talks about gratitude.
The Psalmist begins and ends with these same words: “Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!”
Before we expound Psalm 118, I think it’s appropriate to cover some background and context of this Psalm.
It’s difficult to determine who exactly wrote Psalm 118.
It could have been Moses.
It could have been King David.
Regardless of who wrote it, the New Testament quotes Psalms 118 numerous times as God’s word.
Plus, we don’t exactly know on what occasion this Psalm was written, but it may have been written during a time of trial and triumph.
This Psalm is also one of (what Jews would call) the Hallel Psalms. The word, “hallel,” means Praise.
These Hallel Psalms encompasses Psalm 113-118. All of them make reference to the Exodus whereby God delivered His people from Egypt in the book of Exodus.
It was the tradition for the Jews to sing these Hallel Psalms during the Jewish festivals, particularly the Passover.
Before the Passover Meal, the Jews would sing one or two of the Psalms. After the meal, they would sing the rest.
Now, I want you to keep this in mind as I’m covering this passage.
On the night before Jesus was arrested and crucified, He celebrated the Passover with His disciples.
Most likely, Jesus would have sung the Hallel Psalms from Psalm 113-118.
Matthew 26:30 and Mark 14:26 indicate that Jesus and His disciples sung a hymn.
Jesus - knowing that He will go through suffering - sang Psalm 118.
Big Idea: Give Thanks To God All Circumstances
And as I walk through this Psalm, we’re going to learn why we are to give thanks to God in all circumstances.
Exposition
[SLIDE 2] 1. Give Thanks For God’s Goodness And Lovingkindness
1 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever! 2 Let Israel say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” 3 Let the house of Aaron say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” 4 Let those who fear the Lord say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”
The Psalmist begins this Psalm with an imperative.
Oh give thanks to the LORD. That’s our keyword for this morning, we are to give thanks to the LORD.
The reason for thanksgiving to the LORD:
First, for he is good
God is good all the time.
All the time, God is good.
That is God’s nature, essence, and attribute.
Jesus taught that there is no one who is good besides God Himself.
Not only is God good in His essence, He is good in respect to other aspects of His attributes (e.g. power, wisdom, sovereignty, justice, infinite, eternal).
And He is good in His works (e.g. His creation, His judgement, and His salvation)
Therefore, God cannot do anything that is NOT good.
God alone is perfectly good.
Second of all, for his steadfast love (lovingkindness; HESED) endures forever!
This means God’s covenantal, faithful, and loyal love to His people.
This phrase, “steadfast love that endures forever,” is repeated five times in this chapter, but it is also a theme that is repeated 34 times in the book of Psalms, particularly, after Psalm 100 and onwards.
Therefore, it must be important for us to know that God’s lovingkindness and steadfast love is everlasting.
His love will never fail His people who are in covenant with Him.
This praise of God arises because of who the LORD is and what He has done for His people.
The Psalmist calls upon God’s people to sing, “His steadfast love endures forever.”
Israel - the nation of Israel
The House of Aaron - the priesthood and Levites.
Those who fear the LORD
This would include both Jews and Gentiles.
This would include us who have trusted in the LORD and are walking in the fear of the LORD.
And the entire body of this Psalm reflects how God is good and how God’s lovingkindness endures forever based on the experience of the Psalmist and his recollection of the LORD’s past work.
[SLIDE 3] 2. Give Thanks For God Is By My Side
5 Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free. 6 The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me? 7 The Lord is on my side as my helper; I shall look in triumph on those who hate me. 8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. 9 It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.
Perhaps, after reading this, you may sympathize with the Psalmist’s experience.
The Psalmist was in distress.
He was going through some form of hardship.
He was being oppressed by his enemies.
He was being hated by his enemies.
Perhaps, some of you may be experiencing something similar in your life.
But, the Psalmist did not dwell on his circumstances. He focused his thoughts on the LORD.
He called on the LORD. He cried out to Him. He prayed to God.
He is confident that the LORD will answer him and set him free.
It may not mean that God freed the Psalmist from the problems that he’s facing.
What it could mean is that God set him free from FEAR.
How does God set you free from fear?
By knowing and believing that God is on your side.
Twice, in verses 6 and 7, that the LORD is on my side.
Because the Psalmist knows that God is by his side - and that God is his helper, and that God is for him and not against him - he will not fear.
You can say the same thing as the Psalmist declares. What can man do to me? What can those who hate me do to me?
A parallel verse that speaks to this idea is Psalm 23:4
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Furthermore, the Apostle Paul may have picked up this concept and alluded to the Psalmist when he wrote Romans 8:31
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
No matter what problem you are facing, the simple point of application in this section is that you can turn to God. You can trust in the LORD who is on your side, IF you are a born-again Christian who have placed your faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour.
Twice, in verses 8 - 9, the Psalmist says, “It is better to take refuge in the LORD.”
We think of refugees escaping from their country to find refuge in a safe country.
Speaking in poetic terms, God is a shelter and a place of hiding for His people.
The King James Version would translate: “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.”
You can trust in the LORD because He is a better refuge than man and princes.
I wonder how many of us are feeling disappointed and disenchanted at the leaders of our country, province, and city.
These folks are mere mortals.
Charles Spurgeon comments that “they are noblest in rank and mightiest in power, and yet as a rule, princes are not one whit more reliable than the rest of mankind.”
It doesn’t matter if they’re rich and famous. Folks who seem powerful in rank are often proud, vain-glorious, self-confident, and rash.
Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying we stop voting. We should be wise to vote for the best candidate that best reflects biblical moral values and best seeks the welfare of this country.
Yet, at the end of the day, let’s not think of them as our hope and Saviour.
That’s why it is better to trust in the LORD.
Because it is wiser, safer, and leads to better outcomes.
What would this have meant for our Lord Jesus Christ?
Jesus understood this through personal experience when all of His disciples abandoned Him at the crucifixion.
Even individuals like Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, who held sympathies for Him, did not come to His aid during His moments of agony and crucifixion.
Yet, 1 Peter 2:23-24 tells us:
23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
Moving on to the 3rd Thanksgiving, the Psalmist:
[SLIDE 4] 3. Give Thanks For God Is My Strength
10 All nations surrounded me; in the name of the Lord I cut them off! 11 They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side; in the name of the Lord I cut them off! 12 They surrounded me like bees; they went out like a fire among thorns; in the name of the Lord I cut them off! 13 I was pushed hard, so that I was falling, but the Lord helped me.
Continuing with the idea of trial and hardship, the Psalmist talks about the enemies - as if all the nations - that surrounded him.
They are like warming bees with their venomous stings that are surrounding him.
The Psalmist seems to be put in a hopeless situation.
There does not seem to be an escape plan.
However, knowing that the LORD is by His side, the Psalmist responds and declares three times in verses 10-12, “in the name of the LORD I cut them off.”
In other words, the power of victory is not in human strength, but by the power of the name of the LORD. Only the LORD has helped him when the enemies were surrounding him and pushing him off.
[SLIDE 5] Knowing that God is by his side to help him, the Psalmist sings the songs of salvation.
14 The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. 15 Glad songs of salvation are in the tents of the righteous: “The right hand of the Lord does valiantly, 16 the right hand of the Lord exalts, the right hand of the Lord does valiantly!” 17 I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord. 18 The Lord has disciplined me severely, but he has not given me over to death.
Three times, the Psalmist sings, “the right hand of the LORD.”
The right hand of the LORD is not referring to God literally having a right hand. It’s a poetic language that refers to God’s mighty power to save.
This section echoes back the exodus story in Exodus 15:2-6.
This is right after the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, and God destroyed the Egyptian army.
[SLIDE 6] And Moses and the Israelite sang this song of the LORD.
2 The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. 3 The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name. 4 “Pharaoh’s chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea. 5 The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone. 6 Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy.
The Psalmist was singing of the fulfillment of the Exodus. He takes that song to himself personally that the LORD is his strength and his song.
Just as God rescued His people from the Egyptians, He will rescue the Psalmist from His enemies.
[SLIDE 7] That’s why in verse 17, the experience of deliverance, and the security that the faithful have in God, lead to the reflection, I shall not die, but I shall live.
He’s going to reflect and recount all the good deeds of the LORD.
The deeds also include the Lord’s discipline in verse 18. Why would he say, “The LORD has disciplined me severely?”
The Psalmist interprets his difficult situation as the LORD’s discipline.
The problems and troubles that he faced did not mean that God abandoned him, but rather it was God’s way of disciplining him.
Even if the discipline was severe, the LORD will not give him over to death.
Now, the hardship that we face does not always mean that we are being disciplined by the LORD.
Sometimes, it is.
And when we are disciplined by the LORD, we remember that His discipline is good and loving.
And the Bible also says that the purpose of God’s discipline is that we may share in His holiness.
The LORD chastens those whom he loves so that we can see clearly that God is the only One we can trust.
Moving on to the 4th Thanksgiving, the Psalmist:
[SLIDE 8] 4. Give Thanks For God Is My Salvation
19 Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. 20 This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it. 21 I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.
The Psalmist sings in victory of God’s triumph.
Whatever the circumstance may be, it looks like he’s going to Jerusalem, passing through the gate of the temple to worship inside the temple…with the purpose of giving thanks to the LORD.
He goes and give thanks to God that He has answered his cry of distress and rescued him and became his salvation.
[SLIDE 9] Now, we come to verses 22-24. This is probably an important passage that connects with the Old Testament and the New Testament, particularly with the ministry of Jesus Christ.
22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. 23 This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. 24 This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Verse 22 carries a particular meaning in this entire Psalm. Psalm 118 is more than just a Psalm about gratitude. It is a Messianic Psalm. It is a Psalm that foretells the coming of the Messiah and predicts events that were ultimately fulfilled in the life of Jesus Christ.
We discover the enemies that surrounded the Psalmist were like the builders that rejected the stone, but that stone turns out to be the cornerstone, which was the most important foundational stone of a building. It’s the head of the corner.
In biblical history, we have examples of individuals, such as Joseph, Moses, and David, who were rejected by their own people but the LORD used them to save the Israelites.
In Joseph’s case in the book of Genesis, his brothers rejected him like the stone, but Joseph later rose to become the ruler of Egypt (like the cornerstone).
God ultimately used Joseph to save his family and preserve the line of Jacob.
In Exodus, the Israelites rejected Moses. They complained that Moses caused them to work even harder in Egypt.
However, it was the LORD who chose and called Moses to lead and deliver them from bondage.
In 1 Samuel, David’s father and brothers did not anticipate that the LORD would choose him to be the king and saved them from Goliath. Furthermore, Saul and his army tried to surround David in order to take his life.
However, God delivered David, and eventually put Saul to death. David eventually ascended to the throne and ruled over Israel.
What do these three biblical characters teach us?
They all reflect what the Psalmist’s experience.
They all defied expectations and overcame rejection of the builders.
Since this is a Messianic Psalm, the future king from the line of David would also be a stone initially rejected by the builders.
Yet, this stone would prove to be the most crucial component in the entire structure of God's divine plan.
From the trial to the triumph of the Psalmist and other biblical characters, all of this is to show us that this was the LORD’s doing, and we are to marvel at it.
It is rather hard to imagine that Jesus sang this part of Psalm as he went out to the Mount Olives. When he sang this point, He knew that He’s the fulfillment of this Psalm.
This cornerstone ultimately points to THE cornerstone, which is our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the stone whom the Jews have rejected, but He was raised and exalted by God to be the cornerstone by being raised from the dead.
This was ultimately the LORD’s sovereign doing.
Who lifted Jesus high again, exalting Him above all?
Not the religious leaders – they rejected Him.
Not the Roman leaders – they crucified Him.
Not the Jewish multitudes – they chose another.
Not the disciples – they cowered in fear.
Not His influential followers – they buried Him.
Not the devoted women – they were beset by grief.
Only God the Father Himself could lift Jesus high.
Why did the Father exalt Jesus high and become the cornerstone?
11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
So, this is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
[SLIDE 10] 5. Give Thanks For God Is My God
25 Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success! 26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord. 27 The 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! 28 You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you.
So, back in verse 19, the Psalmist gave us a picture of the gate. Now, the Psalmist guides us to the house of the LORD.
The Psalmist tells us in verse 26: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD.
The “He” is referring to the Son of David (Matthew 21:9).
Jesus is the fulfillment of this verse as He was entering Jerusalem in His triumphant entry.
You may remember on Palm Sunday that the Jews welcomed Jesus, their Messiah, to Jerusalem through the city gates. He received blessing from the singers.
They shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
And do you know what Hosanna means?
When we sing Hosanna, we often think it’s similar to Hallelujah, but it actually petitions God to save and deliver us.
This phrase, “Save us,” from verse 25 means Hosanna.
So, because of the cornerstone, the people are invited to respond to all that God has done.
All the redeemed of the LORD shall praise the LORD from the house of the LORD.
In light of God’s greatness in salvation, the Psalmist makes a commitment to God by offering a sacrifice to Him. He asking God to receive his sacrificial offering: “Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar.”
Such sacrifice and worship from the Psalmist is nothing but acknowledging that God is his God.
Notice in verse 28, twice the Psalmist says, “you are my God.”
God is not just God, but God is a personal God. He’s MY GOD.
He will give thanks to God.
He will extol and glorify the LORD.
It will be his commitment to the LORD.
Because of all that God has done for us, how are you to live your life in light of His great deliverance and salvation through Jesus Christ?
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
[SLIDE 11] 6. Give Thanks For God’s Goodness And Lovingkindness
29 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!
The Psalm concludes with how he began.
Ultimately, God is a good God.
He is a covenant keeping God.
His lovingkindness endures forever for His people.
His work of redemption and salvation ought to be marvelous in our eyes.
[SLIDE 12] Conclusion
In summary, let us remember the Big Idea: Give Thanks To God In All Circumstances.
1. Give Thanks For God’s Goodness And Lovingkindness
2. Give Thanks For God Is By My Side
3. Give Thanks For God Is My Strength
4. Give Thanks For God Is My Salvation
5. Give Thanks For God Is My God
6. Give Thanks For God’s Goodness And Lovingkindness
[SLIDE 13] We have much to give thanks to God for. Most importantly, we want to give thanks to God’s sovereign plan in sending His Son, Jesus Christ.
Jesus sung this Psalm and gave thanks to God even in the face of rejection and crucifixion.
And He is ultimately the fulfillment of Psalm 118.
Ultimately, Jesus did not come to save us from physical harm, but He came to save us spiritually.
He came to die and be raised from the grave to save His people from their sins and from the wrath to come.
That’s the ultimate deliverance every sinner needs.