Well, good evening. It's a blessing to be with you once again this night. You can turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 118. The first series we did in the evening at Surrey was Psalms of the Messiah.

So we're looking at a Messianic text tonight in Psalm 118. Psalm 118, begin reading at verse 1. O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endures forever. Let Israel now say, His mercy endures forever.

Let the house of Aaron now say, His mercy endures forever. Let those who fear the Lord now say, His mercy endures forever. I called on the Lord in distress. The Lord answered me and set me in a broad place.

The Lord is on my side. I will not fear. What can man do to me? The Lord is for me among those who help me.

Therefore, I shall see my desire on those who 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 surrounded me, but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them.

Yes, they surrounded me, but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. They surrounded me like bees, but they were quenched like a fire of thorns. For in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. You pushed me violently that I might fall, but the Lord helped me.

The Lord is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation. The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous. The right hand of the Lord is valiantly. The right hand of the Lord is exalted.

The right hand of the Lord is valiantly. I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord. The Lord has chastened me severely, but he has not given me over to death. Open to me the gates of righteousness, and I will go through them, and I will praise the Lord.

This is the gate of the Lord through which the righteous shall enter, and I will praise you, for you have answered me and have become my salvation. The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the Lord has made, and we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Save now, I pray, O Lord. O Lord, I pray, send now prosperity. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. We have blessed you from the house of the Lord.

God is the Lord, and he has given us light. Bind the sacrifice with cords, the horns of the altar. You are my God, and I will praise you. You are my God, and I will exalt you.

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. Amen. Well, let us pray. O great God, again we are thankful that we can come before you.

And the only reason that we can come before you tonight is because of your mercy towards us. And we know, O God, that it is an enduring mercy, it is an everlasting mercy, it is a mercy that we do not deserve. You've called great sinners out of darkness to believe on Christ, and Christ came in the world to save sinners. We do not deserve this great grace and this kindness and mercy, yet we see it throughout your Word, O God.

We see your mercy even in the event of the Exodus, saving Israel, bringing them out of bondage, but even more so in the salvation of your people. But, O God, we know that you're not just a merciful God, but a faithful God. And we do ask that you would be with us tonight, for you've promised to be with your people. You've promised to never leave us nor forsake us.

So we ask, O God, that you would open the heavens and come down, that you would dwell with us in a special way this night, O Lord. As we gather together for praise and worship, as we gather together to hear your word, we pray that you would be with us by your Spirit, O God. We know, O God, we have so many things to give you praise for, but especially for what Christ has done for us. So, God, help us to be mindful of the Lord Jesus, help us to be mindful of your grace.

Sometimes we are forgetful of these things, we are forgetful of your mercy, but help us to be reminded of these things tonight, and help us to press on and praise and trust in you, a God who is with us. What can man do to us? So, God, we pray that you'd be with us now, in the name of Christ. Amen.

Introduction

Well, just a couple introductory things before we dive into Psalm 118. When we look at the Psalter, sometimes we might think it's just a ragtag bunch of Psalms put together. But in reality, there's a bit of a structure, and a bit of an order, and a bit of a progression we see in them. The first Psalms we typically see, there's a lot of laments in them.

There's a lot of people crying out, where is my God? And as we come to book number three, we're in this crisis situation. Is God faithful to the promises he made to David? And book three ends with Psalm 89, as the psalmist cries out, God, why have you not kept your promises?

But then we come to books 4 and 5, and certainly there are still some laments in books 4 and 5, but we come to psalms of praise, psalms of thanksgiving. They've come over the hump, and now they've praised God, for God has delivered them in their distresses. So we're really in book 5 of the Psalter, and this is where we see the king's celebration of God's salvation. The Messiah has triumphed, and we see this especially in Psalm 110, So what can Israel do but they must praise their God?

And one of the ways in which Israel praises their God is they praise Him for their deliverance. What's interesting, a sub-genre, a sub-section we see in the Psalter is what is called the Egyptian Hallel. Don't freak out that I use some Hebrew there because we sing that all the time. Hallelujah!

Basically, it is the Egyptian praise, recalling the Exodus, and we see that in Psalms 113 to Psalm 118. In Psalm 114 is that Exodus psalm, and in Psalm 118 is that climax, this praise for what God has done in the Exodus. Now, it probably wasn't just sung during the Passover, probably other times as well, but it was especially sung during the Passover. Theologians think that Jesus, in Matthew 26 30, when they sing this hymn before they go to the Mount of Olives, what is it that they sing?

Probably Psalm 118, as they recall God's goodness and mercy in the Passover, as Christ is going forward to be the one who delivers his people. So it is a psalm of thanksgiving. And typically, what do you do at festivals? You thank God for what he has done, and this is what they would do at Passover.

There's no author given, no historical setting, probably could have been sung by kings, by the people returning from exile as a reminder of God's mercy. We don't need to read into too much of the historical setting there, but certainly the Exodus is in mind. And really, in Psalm 118, the psalmist, as a representative of the people, gives thanks to God for his enduring mercy towards his people, especially in the Exodus. And we'll look at this under three headings tonight.

First of all, God's enduring mercy in verses 1 through 4. Secondly, God's enduring faithfulness in verses 5 through 18. And lastly, God's enduring praise in verses 19 through 29. So God's mercy, God's faithfulness, and God's praise.

God's Enduring Mercy (vv. 1–4)

Let's first look at God's enduring mercy in verses 1 to 4. And notice we get this call to worship. They would have sung this in the temple. O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, his mercy endures forever.

And this is the right response to our God when he is merciful to us. Sometimes we're forgetful of that. Sometimes we don't praise our God, but especially in big events like the Exodus, like the Passover, like returning from exile, they would have sung this. Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his mercy endures forever.

And the focus of this psalm is really on Yahweh, on what He has done. Yahweh, the term there, LORD, in capital letters, is used over 20 times in this psalm. And it should recall for us Exodus 3 and Exodus 34, when God appears to Moses and says, I am who I am. Or in Exodus 34, when he says, I am the Lord, a God gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

He wants to remind us, or the psalmist wants to remind us of God's covenant faithfulness to do what he said he would do. And so give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. Now, we could probably just stop right there, pack it in, and start singing the doxology, right? For God is good!

God is wholly other than you and I, and He's the only good in this universe. Any sort of good that we see on this planet is because of the Lord God Almighty. When the psalmist describes Him as good, it's describing a perfection of God, something about Him that you and I do not have unless it's from God Almighty. And so he says, for he is good.

He is a good Lord. And not only that, in his being, in his essence, in who he is, but we see his goodness in his works as well. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. And even this language here of his mercy enduring forever, it says that four times in verses one through four.

Verses one, two, three, and four. It says his mercy endures forever. This is that covenant love, hesed, perhaps you've heard that term before. God's faithfulness to do what he says he would do, but not just to do what he said he would do, but his motive behind it, his love for them.

It's a perfect, everlasting love, a love that you and I do not possess. We grow in love and decrease in love. We love our spouse until they do something kind of mean, and then we love them just a little bit less because of that. Or we do something to them, and they love us just a little bit less for that.

But God's love remains the same. It does not grow. It does not decrease. It's an everlasting love that does not change.

And so we see His mercy, and we see His mercy in the Exodus. He brings His people out of slavery, out of bondage, not because they are good, but because God is good. He brings them out of that difficult time, that difficult distress with enemies surrounding them, and He brings them to freedom. He brings them out of that slavery.

This morning we talked about bondage and slavery and what that looked like. If there's ever an example of a people that want to go back into bondage. It was the people of Israel. They're taken out of Egypt and they're wandering.

And then they say, you know what? We like the food better in Egypt. Let's go back. But God is still merciful and God is still gracious and God still is loving and kind towards them.

But God does not change. But our experience of God changes. Does that make sense? You see, God doesn't change in His being, but when we know and learn something more about our God, when we experience Him, that's when things seem to quote-unquote change.

Our experience of Him does, but He never changes. And especially we see this with Christ coming, right? When Christ come as that one who does what Israel could not, the true Israel, as that one who led the true Exodus, that his people who were in bondage to sin might be saved. We experience God in a different way, but that doesn't mean God changes.

God remains the same. And so then the psalmist, after he gives his opening call to worship and refrain, he then goes on to say, Let Israel now say, His mercy endures forever. Let the house of Aaron now say, His mercy endures forever. Let those who fear the Lord now say, His mercy endures forever.

Basically showing who should be praising God and it's the entire people of Israel when he says Israel now say let the priesthood now say and let anyone who fears the Lord and mainly Non-israelites let them praise the Lord and let them praise him Say his mercy endures forever basically all Israel should praise God And there are many reasons they should, but again, there's an order. There's even sometimes a flow, even in the Psalter, even with other Psalms. Because in Psalm 115, there's a similar parallel going on. Verse 9, O Israel, trust in the Lord, for He is their help and their shield.

O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield.

The Lord has been mindful of us. He will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel. He will bless the house of Aaron, and he will bless those who feared the Lord, both small and great.

God has delivered. Let Israel now say, His mercy endures forever. Aren't there many instances we see God's mercy in our own lives, brethren? What is mercy?

It's something that is undeserved. Basically, everything you have, everything in your life, is a merciful gift from God. Every temporal blessing, every sort of good thing that happens, the clothing on your backs, the cars that you drive, the homes that you live in, the food that you eat, is a gift from God. You do not deserve those things, but God is merciful to give you those things.

But how much more the spiritual things, where we see God's mercy. Wretched, terrible, awful people saved by Jesus. Not because we love Him, but because He loves us. It's not anything that we would do, as Paul says in Romans 9.

He didn't look down the corridors of time and see what they would do and choose Jacob and Esau, but he chose them that God's purpose of election might be true. And what's interesting is when you actually read the Jacob and Esau account, they're terrible people, aren't they? You look at Rebekah and Isaac and Jacob and Esau in that section in Genesis 27, they're all just terrible. Isaac wants to thwart the plan of God.

Rebekah dupes a blind guy. Jacob wants to take the blessings from Esau. Esau's a giant oaf who doesn't care about the future blessings. He just wants to think with his gullet.

You see, as that's the backdrop for Romans 9, it's God's goodness and mercy that he saves sinners in Christ Jesus. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. So that's God's enduring mercy.

God's Enduring Faithfulness (vv. 5–18)

Let's then look, secondly, at God's enduring faithfulness in verses 5 through 18. We see three ways in which the psalmist recalls God's goodness and the ways in which God has delivered him.

Delivered from Distress

Verse 5, he says, I called on the Lord in distress, and the Lord answered me and set me in a broad place. Notice it switches from plural to singular. Perhaps the king, as a representative of the people, cries out about times in which he was in distress, and other people can sing this with him as well. The Lord delivered him from his distress and brings him and sets him on a broad place, sets him on a strong foundation.

There are times in the Psalter in which the psalmist cries out, How long, O Lord, answer me in my prayers! You see, the psalmist in Psalm 118 is on the other side of the trial that he's going through. And he can look back and say, God was with me. But there was a time in the Psalter in which the psalmist cries out, and he's in the midst of his trial, and he doesn't know where God is.

Even in Psalm 69, he cries out, Oh God, I am sinking. I'm in the miry clay. What shall I do? I will call on the Lord.

He answered me and sets me on a broad place. Verse six, the Lord is on my side. What can man do to me? Or I will not fear.

What can man do to me? The Lord is for me among those who help me. Therefore, I shall see my desire on those who 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. The Lord is with His people. And David prays the same thing in Psalm 56, verse 11. Basically the same thing, he says, In God I have put my trust.

I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" And what's interesting, when he prays that, it's when he's actually going through difficulty. It's during the time when the Philistines captured David and Gath, but he still cries out, what can man do to me? So in the midst of his trial, in the midst of your trial, what can man do to you?

And after you go through that trial, what can man do to you? For we do not put our trust in man or put our confidence in princes, but it is better to trust in the Lord. And he repeats it twice to drill it into our minds to make sure we understand that. God was with me in my distress.

I can look back with joy, know that he was with me. What shall man do to me? So God delivers him from his distress, but also God delivers him from the nations in verses 10 through 14.

Delivered from the Nations

Notice there's this big battle. All nations surrounded me, but in the name of the Lord, I will destroy them. They surrounded me. Yes, they surrounded me.

There was nowhere else to go. Perhaps we could recall the Exodus at this time. When the people came up out of Egypt, when they were at the Red Sea, there was nowhere else to go. Pharaoh was coming one way and the sea was on the other side.

There was nowhere else to go. They were surrounded. What can man do to me? All the nations surround me, but in the name of the Lord, I will destroy them.

But in the name of the Lord, I will destroy them. God is with his people. Though they surround me like bees, that swarm of bees you can't get out of, or the swarm of bees you can't get out of, and he says they were quenched like a fire of thorns. Regardless of the toil, Yahweh's name is more powerful.

Regardless of the difficulty you are going through, Yahweh's name is more powerful. Regardless of the trial that you are enduring right now, Christ's name is more powerful. For God is with his people. What shall man do to me?

In the name of the Lord, I will destroy them. Then he says in verse 13, you pushed me violently that I might fall, but the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation.

The Lord is his strength and his power. He leans upon him. And this is also in Exodus. allusion in Exodus 15, right after the Red Sea. They're saved from Pharaoh in the Red Sea, with the parting of the Red Sea, in the song of Moses.

Moses sings in verse 2 of Exodus 15, the Lord is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him. So God's delivered the psalmist from his distress. He's delivered the psalmist from the nations, but he also delivers the psalmist from death in verses 15 through 18.

The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous. Those who've been saved sing with joy, shout for joy, for God has done valiantly. His hand is exalted. He has done valiantly.

And again, Exodus 15 and 6 recalls God's right hand of power to save the people out of Egypt. God's might, God's power, He stretches out valiantly to save them. It was not their doing, but God's goodness. So it's a recollection of that.

And so even in the midst of that certain death, as they rejoice in God's might, what specifically is in view?

Delivered from Death

I shall not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord. Brethren, death still is going to happen to us, but we don't have to fear death, do we? What shall we say? Even I shall not die, but I shall live and declare the works of the Lord.

In the face of death, what can man do to me? You and I don't have to fear death, even though the outer man decays, the inner man is renewed day by day. Should death come, we will be with the Lord Jesus Christ forever and ever. This was Luther's motto in life.

I shall not die, but I shall live and I shall recount the deeds of the Lord. Isn't that true for us? Shouldn't that be true for us? If we're in Christ Jesus, though we die, we will be with Christ, singing his praises forever and ever, recounting his goodness and not our fake goodness, because there is no goodness except from God.

So he says, I will declare these things, but then verse 18, the Lord has chastened me severely, but he has not given me over to death. Basically, God still chastens his people. God still disciplines his people, but that doesn't mean we'll be given over to death. We will be with God forever and ever.

So brethren, when we see God's enduring faithfulness, we must trust in our God because he is a faithful God. You know what's interesting? We are forgetful people, aren't we? God does many merciful and kind things to us, yet sometimes we are forgetful to praise Him for those things.

Perhaps in our distresses, we pray a little bit more to God, don't we, sometimes? Why is that the case? We pray to God in those distresses. Yet then sometimes God, a lot of the times, God answers those prayers, and we don't praise Him or thank Him for those things, right?

But you see, you want to know why our God is a good God? Even when we don't thank Him, He still answers our prayers. And even when we don't pray the prayers we should pray to our God, asking Him for aid in those difficult times, He still answers those prayers. Because He's a good and gracious and faithful and merciful God that we do not deserve to be in covenant with or in communion with.

So God is a faithful God that we can lean upon Him even when we're in the difficult times, but even when we go past them and God has delivered us from them, we must remember our God always. So that's God's enduring faithfulness.

God's Enduring Praise (vv. 19–29)

Let's then look thirdly and finally at God's enduring praise in verses 19 through 29. So we kind of have this progression. There's this call to being of the service, give thanks to the Lord. Then there's this recollection of why they need to give thanks to the Lord.

And then we come to the celebration in the temple. Verse 19, open to me the gates of righteousness and I will go through them and I will praise the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord through which the righteous shall enter. He's basically banging on the gate saying, let me in.

I want to worship my God. That's usually not us, is it? Typically, it's like, oh, we have to come back for the five o'clock service. It's during dinner time.

Our kids need a nap. That guy preaches sometimes for a little bit longer than we would like sometimes. Don't worry about that. He's a fantastic preacher, isn't he?

He preaches for a long time. We should just pay attention and pinch our faces and be awake for what he's saying. You see, the people here, the psalmist says, let me in. I want to sing praises to my Lord God Almighty.

I want to shout for joy about my God's salvation for me. Open to me, O gates, and let me in. Open to me, ancient doors, that I might come in and give thanks to my Lord. For I will praise you, O God, for you have answered me and you have become my salvation." He doesn't want to be held back from praising his God for his God's goodness towards him.

And even so, as we continue on in verse 22 and verses 23 and 24, we see God's goodness and mercy in that he chooses a special people. The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes.

This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Now, there's a lot of layers when we do interpretation, right? This is clearly a messianic reference, and we'll talk about that in just a moment.

When we think about the original context and its reference to the Exodus, the Hebrews were kind of that stone and pebble you threw away. But God brings them. and chooses them and makes them that special stone by which He would build His foundation. And it was through the one who was born of a woman, born under the law, that He would redeem His people through that law, this Christ who came. So even here he's talking about God's goodness, choosing this cornerstone, the structure, the best stone in the temple for security.

God has done this, not us. It is blessed, it is marvelous. And the Lord has made this day of salvation, and we will rejoice and be glad in it. And then in verse 25-29, he ends with this prayer to God.

Save now, I pray, O Lord. O Lord, I pray, send now prosperity. You see, it's not just in the bad times that we pray to God. I hope that's clear.

We pray to God in the good times as well. And what can spur us on in those times of prosperity is that we remember God's goodness to us in this prosperity. He says, O Lord, thank you for giving me and saving me. Save now, I pray.

Continue on. Send now this prosperity, for blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Van Gemeren says, The Lord would continue to the prayer is the Lord would continue to do his wonderful acts in their midst So they will prosper there are times when we don't see God's Visibleness sometimes in our own lives and we pray to God how long Oh Lord, but but we see God's visibleness in our lives What should we do God continue in showing us yourself to us? It's usually in those times of prosperity, so to speak, we kind of step back a little bit, and then we go through a cycle of difficulty, and then we pray again, like, just pray all the time.

The assumption is that you will pray to your God in the good times, in the bad, giving him thanks for his goodness towards you, and asking that he would continue in that, in his goodness towards you as well. So he says, he's praying, it's good times right now in Israel. Lord, continue to do this. And then verse 26, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Perhaps there's a festal procession going on as they're praising God at the festival. Here's this one who comes in the name of the Lord. And we have blessed you from the house of the Lord. God is the Lord, and he has given us light.

Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horn of the altar." Basically, that's perhaps a reference to the Aaronic Blessing in Numbers 6.24. May the God of the Lord bless you and keep you, his face shine upon you. And we see that God has done that towards them, so they give him worship and praise and honor at the altar. You are my God, and I will praise you.

You are my God, and I will exalt you. I'll give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever."

Psalm 118 and the Messiah

Now this is a messianic text, and there are several places in which this psalm is quoted in the scriptures. You can turn with me to Matthew 21.

The Triumphal Entry

We see the reference to the Lord Jesus in his first coming, and especially at that triumphal entry. When he's riding in on that donkey, people are laying down the branches and their clothes on the road for the Messiah who comes. And then in verse 9, then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest. So they're praising God when He comes into the temple, or excuse me, when He comes in and they're giving Him praise and recognizing that He is the Son of David. And then what happens is Jesus cleanses the temple. And then in verse 14, the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple and He healed them.

But the chief priests have a bit of a bee in their bonnet in verse 15. But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the son of David, they were indignant and said to him, Do you hear what these are saying? They're mad that they're quoting Psalm 118 towards him. And then Jesus quotes Psalm 8.

Yes, have you never read out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants, you have perfected praise. The chief priest rejects the Lord Jesus Christ, but as he's coming in, there's a recognition by the people that he is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. But you see,

The Rejected Cornerstone

the second place in which Psalm 118 we'll see is quoted is also in Matthew 21, several verses later in Matthew 21, 42. This is also in some of the parallel accounts as well. We'll just look at Matthew. This is the parable of the wicked vine dressers. and the wicked tenants.

There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it. He dug a winepress in it and built a tower. He leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. Now when vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers that he might receive its fruit.

And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed another. He does it again several times, and then finally he sends his son. They will respect my son. But that's not the case.

When the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, this is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance. So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. Then Jesus asked the question to the Pharisees, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?

They said to them, He will destroy those wicked men miserably and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons. And Jesus said to them, Have you never read in the scriptures, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone? This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.

And whoever falls on this stone will be broken, but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder. Christ is that chief cornerstone in whom the psalmist is speaking about. He is that Messianic King who has come. Yet the Pharisees don't see it.

The Pharisees don't recognize it. They who are part of ethnic Israel don't see that Christ is the Messiah who is to come. And He is rejected for this. And thus He will bring about subsequent judgment when He falls upon them and grinds them to power.

It is the Lord's doing that he might bring salvation. So we see it's quoted in his triumphal entry. It's quoted in the rejection of the Lord Jesus, and his rejection by these Pharisees.

Peter's Witness to the Sanhedrin

But it's also quoted in Acts chapter 4 verse 11. Isaiah 28 and Psalm 118 have a similar saying, and it is close together, and we'll draw upon that in just a moment. But Peter, a similar thing, as Jesus pronounces judgment, so too does Peter pronounce judgment upon the Sanhedrin. When he speaks of Jesus the Christ, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole.

Verse 11 of Acts 4. This is the stone which was rejected by you, builders, which has become the chief cornerstone. Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name given among men by which we must be saved. There's one salvation, and it is this cornerstone, and you have rejected Him.

And he says that to the Sanhedrin there. So we see Christ coming, Christ's rejection.

Christ as Foundation of His People

We also see the psalm used with Christ as the foundation of His people. 1 Peter 2, verse 7. It's quoted a lot, isn't it? 1 Peter 2, verse 7. When he talks about the people of God being a chosen stone and a chosen people, he uses this idea of a stone. Verse 4.

Coming to him as to a living stone, rejected by men, but chosen by God and precious. You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is also contained in the scripture. This is Isaiah 28.

Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on him will by no means be put to shame. Therefore, to you who believe, he is precious, but to those who are disobedient, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. Again, those who reject Jesus Christ reject the cornerstone and the way of salvation. So Christ is the foundation, even in Ephesians 2.20, it's the foundation by which the church is built upon.

But it's not just Christ's first coming and Christ's rejection and Christ as the foundation of his people, but it's also Christ's second coming as well.

Christ's Second Coming

Matthew 23.39, back to Matthew. This is right after the woes in which Jesus pronounces on the scribes and Pharisees, and then he gives this lament, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stone those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. See, your house is left to you desolate.

For I say to you, you shall see me no more till you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. So clearly, the New Testament writers draw and use Psalm 118 to point to Jesus as the Messiah. If you reject Him, you'll be ground into a powder. But if you believe on Him, you'll marvel and wonder at the Second Coming, when He comes again.

He has come. He's lived. He's died. He rose again.

And He's been raised and ascends and sits at the right hand of God the Father. But He will come again to judge the living and the dead. And we look forward to that day when He comes that second time. For blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.

And the Lord Jesus shall come again. And if you don't believe on Him at that time or before you die, you shall receive judgment. But if you believe on Him, on this Messianic King, you shall have everlasting life and experience enduring mercy, faithfulness, and praise to the God of heaven and earth. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.

His mercy endures forever. Let's pray.

Closing Prayer

O Lord God Almighty, We give you thanks for your goodness. We give you praise for your mercy, and we give you honor for your grace. We know, oh God, that we do not deserve the things that we receive, and we do not receive the things that we deserve. This is because of your goodness, that you are a God who is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

We're thankful, O God, that we have your scriptures that teach us concerning you, that teach us concerning your goodness, that teach us concerning the Lord Jesus, that Messianic King, the one prophesied of old, the one foretold in your scriptures, especially in your psalm. We're thankful, O God, that he is the cornerstone. We know that he is rejected by men, but you have raised him up. And, O God, we know that we must reject the things of men as well, but believe on this cornerstone.

And, O God, may these things, for those who believe, give us strength. May we give you thanks always for your mercy and your goodness towards us, for you are a gracious and merciful God. And, O God, if there are any here tonight who do not know you, we pray that you would cause them to come to saving knowledge, convict them of their sin, that they might believe on Jesus. We're thankful, O God, for the mercies that are found in Him and in Him alone.

We give you praise and honor for your gospel of free and sovereign grace. We pray, O God, that your Spirit would be with us now, we pray in the name of Christ. Amen. We'll close with a brief time of meditation.

When the piano's finished, you're dismissed.

Scripture References

• Exodus 3; 15:2; 15:6; 34; 34:6
• Numbers 6:24
• Genesis 27
• Psalm 8; 56:11; 69; 110; 114; 115:9; 118; 118:1; 118:1-4; 118:5; 118:5-18; 118:6; 118:10-14; 118:13; 118:15-18; 118:17; 118:18; 118:19; 118:19-29; 118:22; 118:23-24; 118:25-29; 118:26
• Isaiah 28
• Romans 9
• Matthew 21; 21:9; 21:14; 21:15; 21:42; 23:39; 26:30
• Acts 4:11
• Ephesians 2:20
• 1 Peter 2:4; 2:7