Psalm 118
Notes
Transcript
1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his faithful love endures forever.
“The Lord” – Yahweh
He is good – joyous, pleasing, desirable, friendly, lovely, deserving of esteem and respect.
This “Good One’s” faithful love will last forever.
God’s unfailing love, kindness, goodness is exemplified in His covenant,
H is a covenant-making, covenant-keeping God.
His covenant with Abraham was irrevocable.
I will make you a great nation and through you all the nations will be blessed.
His new covenant solidified the assurance of the Abrahamic Covenant promising the descendant who would BE the blessing to all nations.God’s covenant in Jeremiah 31:31 says God makes a new covenant where His laws are written on our hearts, we will know Him, and He will forgive our sins.
Then, Jeremiah 31:35-36
35 “This is what the Lord says:
The one who gives the sun for light by day,
the fixed order of moon and stars for light by night,
who stirs up the sea and makes its waves roar—
the Lord of Armies is his name:
36 If this fixed order departs from before me—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
only then will Israel’s descendants cease
to be a nation before me forever.
And again, Jeremiah 33: 14-21
14 “Look, the days are coming”—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
“when I will fulfill the good promise
that I have spoken
concerning the house of Israel
and the house of Judah.
15 In those days and at that time
I will cause a Righteous Branch
to sprout up for David,
and he will administer justice
and righteousness in the land.
16 In those days Judah will be saved,
and Jerusalem will dwell securely,
and this is what she will be named:
The Lord Is Our Righteousness.
17 “For this is what the Lord says: David will never fail to have a man sitting on the throne of the house of Israel. 18 The Levitical priests will never fail to have a man always before me to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices.”
19 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 20 “This is what the Lord says: If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night so that day and night cease to come at their regular time, 21 then also my covenant with my servant David may be broken. If that could happen, then he would not have a son reigning on his throne and the Levitical priests would not be my ministers.
Why, this is such a big deal:
This means that if you are within the covenant of God by grace through faith in Jesus, there will never, ever, ever be even a single day of your life that the faithful love of God is not on you; that the joyous Lord is not with you.
That makes everything in this psalm relevant to us.
Is there any exception? Not if you’re in Jesus! Look at (Psalm 118:2-4 )
2 Let Israel say,
“His faithful love endures forever.”
3 Let the house of Aaron say,
“His faithful love endures forever.”
4 Let those who fear the Lord say,
“His faithful love endures forever.”
That pretty much includes everyone who has faith in the Lord!
Now, let’s look at how this works:
(Psalm 118: 5-9 ) Past victories have boosted the confidence of the psalmist in present threats.
5 I called to the Lord in distress;
the Lord answered me
and put me in a spacious place.
6 The Lord is for me; I will not be afraid.
What can a mere mortal do to me?
7 The Lord is my helper;
therefore, I will look in triumph on those who hate me.
8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humanity.
9 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in nobles.
Past victories have boosted the confidence of the psalmist in present threats.
(5) I called IN DISTRESS, and the Lord answered me and put me in a spacious place.
Spacious place – contrasts (10: “All the nations surrounded me”) being enclosed or pressed in on by the nations. Spacious place = Freedom; deliverance.
Reminiscent David in Psalm 23:1-3
1 The Lord is my shepherd;
I have what I need.
2 He lets me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside quiet waters.
3 He renews my life;
he leads me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
Sheep will not lie down without a real sense of protection and peace. A good shepherd leads his sheep to a spacious place, where there’s plenty of room to graze; where there is a sense of freedom within the bounds of his protection. That is true freedom!
(6) Truth of (5) strengthen conviction that God will be for him.
This leads to 2 truths as it relates to dealing with other humans:
1. No reason to fear
2. Humans can’t give the comfort God’s refuge provides.
Psalm 20:7
Some take pride in chariots, and others in horses,
but we take pride in the name of the Lord our God.
Psalm 118 is the last of the Egyptian Hallel used by the Jews at the Passover Meal. Think of the comfort that Jesus might have taken if He read this Psalm after the last supper
To know what he was about to face, but to know even more that His God and father would not ultimately abandon him but would deliver him through death itself.
How much more should we feel at peace, knowing that Jesus has secured our eternity and given us a spacious place, defeating the one and only enemy that could truly destroy us: death.
(Psalm 118:10-14 ) God assures victory, but His purpose in us is complete as He takes us through the battle.
10 All the nations surrounded me;
in the name of the Lord I destroyed them.
11 They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me;
in the name of the Lord I destroyed them.
12 They surrounded me like bees;
they were extinguished like a fire among thorns;
in the name of the Lord I destroyed them.
13 They pushed me hard to make me fall,
but the Lord helped me.
14 The Lord is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.
Don’t mistake the presence of enemies as the absence of God.
Christ went through the battle and has won victory over death, the most terrifying enemy. Now God uses his remaining enemies as instruments of His grace in the lives of those He loves.
ILLUS: A quote in my study: “A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor”
The wind and the waves are necessary to test and grow your faith
· Sometimes through trusting his strength to hold up against the waves.
· Sometimes simply to watch His power calm the storms like a whisper in the wind.
(PSALM 118 15-18 ) God’s work in our midst, even when it’s discipline from disobedience results in God’s glory magnified and worship multiplied.
15 There are shouts of joy and victory
in the tents of the righteous:
“The Lord’s right hand performs valiantly!
16 The Lord’s right hand is raised.
The Lord’s right hand performs valiantly!”
17 I will not die, but I will live
and proclaim what the Lord has done.
18 The Lord disciplined me severely
but did not give me over to death.
(18)Discipline often happens when we disobey, but discipline implies discipling. It is taking every situation to shape an individual according to the master (“discipler”). It is for our good.
6 I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
(Psalm 118: 17 ) That’s what he was doing in (15-16)
17 I will not die, but I will live
and proclaim what the Lord has done.
That’s what he was doing in (15-16)
The more we look like Jesus, the greater our joy will be, the greater God’s glory will be displayed, and the more He will be worshiped: win, win, win!
(19-24) A procession to worship that is also undoubtedly a foreshadowing of the righteous work of Christ.
(19-21) The “gates of righteousness” clearly are the gates of the temple that the worshipers would enter into to give thanks to the Lord.
(22) The “cornerstone” of the temple is used figuratively of builders who were wise in their own eyes and rejected a particular stone as being unsuitable and rejected to be the foundational stone by which the entire structure is laid out. The psalmist points out that they were wrong and the very stone that didn’t fit the image of the cornerstone became the cornerstone!
God, alone, determines the cornerstone: Isaiah 28:16
16 Therefore the Lord God said:
“Look, I have laid a stone in Zion,
a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation;
the one who believes will be unshakable.
Peter makes it clear in his Pentecost sermon (Acts 4:10-12 )
10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing here before you healthy. 11 This Jesus is
the stone rejected by you builders,
which has become the cornerstone.
12 There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.”
He later makes clear that rebellion leads to destruction (1 Peter 2:1-10 )
1 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, desire the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow up into your salvation, 3 if you have tasted that the Lord is good. 4 As you come to him, a living stone—rejected by people but chosen and honored by God—5 you yourselves, as living stones, a spiritual house, are being built to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture:
See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a chosen and honored cornerstone,
and the one who believes in him
will never be put to shame.
7 So honor will come to you who believe; but for the unbelieving,
The stone that the builders rejected—
this one has become the cornerstone,
8 and
A stone to stumble over,
and a rock to trip over.
They stumble because they disobey the word; they were destined for this.
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
All of the struggles and challenges leads us into being built up in Christ (Ephesians 2:19-22 )
19 So, then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building, being put together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you are also being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit.
So every day, whether easy or hard, is redeemed because of Christ leading us to declare, (Psalm 118:24 )
24 This is the day the Lord has made;
let’s rejoice and be glad in it.
(Psalm 118:29 ) The psalmist closes the way he opened, which is the same way we should start and end every day of our lives (and we can because of Jesus):
29 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his faithful love endures forever.
