[0:00] Right, Psalm 118, 24. And we'll work next time to make sure the words are there for you in English. You'll just have to trust it was as beautiful as it sounded, all right?
[0:10] Many of you know it. Many of you in here, you know a lot more Spanish than you're able to speak, right? That's what we tell ourselves, right? And that just means we can, because we might speak just very little. I'm going to sing a song with you here.
[0:24] My niece and nephew are here, and my kids have told them if they sit there on their best behavior, I might use them in a sermon illustration. The kids love it, and they tell their niece and nephew, no, I will leave you alone.
[0:36] I'm so thankful to have them here, even though it means I have five middle schoolers in my home for the weekend pray for us. Psalm 118, 24. You should know this song, right? I hope you'll help me out.
[0:46] Psalm 118, 24. I'll read it for you, and you'll probably remember the song. This is the day which the Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.
[0:57] How many of you know this song, right? I was kind of thinking somebody would be on the piano when I was imagining this in my head. It probably wouldn't make any difference, would it? All right, let's sing this song together. This is the day.
[1:10] This is the day that the Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.
[1:25] This is the day that the Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day.
[1:37] This is the day that the Lord hath made. That was really good. Good job. Give yourself a round of applause. Some of y'all really want to get into it and clap.
[1:49] And so that's in this passage, Psalm 118. And I was thinking as Lauren was playing the piano, she is working on making a day. The Friday of our missions conference, her and Robbie are getting married.
[2:01] So those that have ever prepared for that, you are preparing a day. You're planning out every aspect of it. And it's exciting to know that the ancient of days is also the manufacturer of days, which is that the God of heaven makes days.
[2:16] And we can rejoice in it. In this passage, we see that God chooses the weak things of the world, that he might put to shame the things that are strong. Very likely that you'd memorize this verse.
[2:28] Apparently, if you know the song, all of you knew the verse. And if you didn't know it before we sung it, I would hope all of you would know it on your way out. Please see Miss Commander. She will get you a piece of candy and the Bible verse button for that.
[2:41] And we want to know what surrounds verse number 24. We want to know the context around it. And also, when we can, we want to know what the New Testament application is. I believe I've said this a few times now.
[2:53] I think I've said when I was going to put this in my notes, I realized I think I might have said this before. And at one point, I must have been wrong, because this verse is one of the most quoted verses in the New Testament.
[3:04] This portion of Scripture speaking about the stone that the builders rejected. And so this is a portion that we find very often. Look at verses 1 through 4.
[3:15] Give thanks unto the Lord. Would you turn with me to Psalm 118? I'm going to keep you being interactive tonight. Psalm 118. When I stop, I want you to say the remaining words, okay?
[3:25] Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good. All right, stop there. Let Israel now say. Let the house of Aaron now say.
[3:38] Let them now that fear the Lord say. Thanks for mercy endureth forever. It was a little scary to hear the way you all said it. I wasn't very happy, but it was still what we wanted to say.
[3:50] The same statement is being read. We all sing it together. His mercy endureth forever. Israel sings it. House of Aaron, the priests, they sing it. And then all of those who fear the Lord, which is us, right?
[4:02] That ought to be how you would describe yourself as a person who has a reverence for the Lord. And they do that. I read a story about a guy who would run. He sold bagels, like down the road here.
[4:14] And he sold it out on the street. And every day this guy would run by him. And he would throw 50 cents in the basket. The bagels were 50 cents. And every day he would just run by and throw 50 cents in.
[4:26] And he would never stop. Well, one day the guy stopped. And he says, you're probably wanting to know why I throw 50 cents in your basket every time you come. And the owner of the bagel shop said, no, I just want you to know bagels have gone up 60 cents.
[4:41] All right? And this really exemplifies a person that's just not grateful. All right? If that joke didn't go very well in church, you don't want to tell it in the real world, okay? Because I get a pity laugh out of a congregation.
[4:53] But that's just the way some people are. Instead of just being grateful that this person gives 50 cents, he wants them to know bagels went up 60 cents. This should be more of our mentality as one author says, here dies another day during which I had eyes, ears, hands, and a great world around me.
[5:11] And with tomorrow begins another. Why am I allowed to? Today, I had ears, I had eyes. I could move. I could do this. God blessed me. The sun came up.
[5:23] The sun would go down, Lord willing. And I was able to eat. Why should I ever be allowed two days like this? Why should God give me another one? That should be our heart.
[5:34] So these first verses, we have these people that are singing, His mercy endures forever. His covenant love for us that He bestows upon us. That love that the Lord has for His people.
[5:47] This is the day of God's help. Verses 5 through 8. So when we say this is the day the Lord has made, let's look at a few of the things. It is the day of God's help. Verse number 5. I called upon the Lord in distress.
[5:58] The Lord answered me and sent me in the Lord's place. The Lord is on my side. I will not fear. What can man do unto me? The Lord taketh my part with them that help me.
[6:10] Therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. In the next verse, he says confidence even in princes.
[6:22] And so of any group of people. So he's getting specific. He says he's a man of war. He's surrounded by nations. He's compassed on every side. He says that twice there around verse number 11.
[6:33] And then he says in verse number 12 that he is surrounded as if by bees. Thou compass me like bees. All right? He's surrounded by these killer bees now. This is quite the picture of a guy being swarmed by bees.
[6:47] I think Dan's experienced that before out at his house. And the penrides are getting picked on a lot tonight. But you can just imagine that just on every side. Don't know where it's coming from.
[6:58] They just keep coming in verse number 13. He was thrust sore, but the Lord helped me. It says in verse number 13. He was helped by the Lord.
[7:08] So he was surrounded on every side with all kinds of trouble. But the Lord helped him. And then how did the Lord help? In verses 14 through 18. Look if you can see a common theme.
[7:19] The Lord's my strength and song. He's become my salvation. The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous. And now these are descriptions about how the Lord helped.
[7:29] The right hand of the Lord doth valiantly. The right hand of the Lord is exalted. The right hand of the Lord doth valiantly. I shall not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord.
[7:41] The Lord has chastened me sore, but has not given me over to death. So the Lord helps me. This is the day the Lord has made. This is the day in which the Lord has helped me. And he says three times here that he did it with his right hand.
[7:54] Does this mean that God is right-handed and left-handed people are demonic? Like possibly, all right? And my brother Stephen's left-handed. How many of you are left-handed in here? It's supposed to be like one out of 17.
[8:05] Charlotte's not sure. She raised both hands. Just confused, all right? Thatcher is. And so what is it saying when it says that the Lord on his right hand, and it speaks here of his strength, of what's available?
[8:18] My stepbrother, we would spend the summers together. You probably have a friend or somebody like this. He would be willing to help you, but he was never going to put his coat down. So no matter what you ask him to do, will you help me carry this ladder?
[8:30] Sure. But he was never going to sit down his coat. He just always lived carrying around some type of coat. I'm from Kentucky. Coke can be anything from sweet tea to Sprite, okay? He had a coat in his hand at all times.
[8:43] And so he wasn't very helpful, right? Because he wasn't giving of his greatest resource to be able to do this. When it speaks of the right hand of the Lord, it is speaking of the attention and the strength and what is available unto our Lord in helping us.
[8:59] He's surrounded by an enemy, but the Lord is going to help him. Such great comfort should come in these things. He cried unto the Lord, and the Lord answered him. The Lord is with him. He shouldn't be afraid.
[9:10] He says that the Lord is his helper. He said it's better to take refuge in the Lord than put confidence in men. He said he was pushed back and he was fallen, but the Lord helped him. The Lord with his strength and song became his salvation, and that the Lord's right hand has done mighty things.
[9:28] And we should be grateful, and we should know that in our lives. You know, I think about Graham, and I think about Olivia today, and just the expectation that they have, but God wasn't not paying attention to them.
[9:39] God didn't get overwhelmed in some area of his life, and now is not able to help them. Just in the same grace he would help them move, he's going to help them at the time. God makes himself known in the fact that not only does he help us, but he doesn't do it half-heartedly, and he doesn't do it as just a hobby.
[9:57] He doesn't do it on the side, but he is our helper. Today should be savored, not gulped down. If you don't learn how to stop and enjoy the day, you will never enjoy one day of the future either.
[10:12] Love that. Every day we should be grateful. We ought to look for ways in which God has helped us. It shouldn't be gulped down. What a gulped down.
[10:25] All right, I'm just curious how he would do that. It would be gulped down. We would just drink it down the day without consideration of how wonderful that it is.
[10:35] Stephanie wants me to drink coffee with her. She thinks that it would be special for her, but she tells me that I drink coffee like Gatorade, you know? I'm just like, I just want to drink it and move on.
[10:45] I don't want to walk around. I don't want to join no club. I don't want to be part of any movement. I just want to drink my drink and move on about my day. And so she says, that's not how you're supposed to drink coffee.
[10:56] It's also not how you're supposed to live your day. You're not supposed to just go through it and not recognize the hand of the Lord that has given you and has helped. You should enjoy it. Charles Swindoll says, Have you ever noticed that man never earns enough?
[11:09] A woman is never beautiful enough. Clothes are not fashionable enough. Cars are not nice enough. Gadgets are never modern enough. And homes are never furnished enough.
[11:22] Food is never fancy enough. Relationships are never romantic enough. And life is never full enough. And friend, it will never be for you unless you realize, To whom little is not enough, nothing is enough.
[11:37] God gives you these things to rejoice. Not only is it a shame, it is a sin not to enjoy life. You need to say, this is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it.
[11:50] Then lastly here, and you know, if you know that verse and you know that song, maybe you did not realize the context in which we find verse number 24. The first section speaks of this enduring mercy for the Lord.
[12:03] I constantly want to bring you back when you hear the word mercy. Obviously think about not getting what you deserve, but also think of it more broader in him expressing his undying, never failing love for his people.
[12:16] And then we saw that the God was a help unto David when he was in great need. And now we have this messianic psalm which points to Jesus.
[12:28] Psalm 118 is quoted in Matthew, Mark, Luke, Acts, and by Peter. Open the gates of the righteous, verse 19, and I will go to them. I will praise the Lord, the gates of the Lord, into which the righteous shall enter.
[12:42] I will praise thee, for thou hast heard me, and art my salvation. The stone which the builders refused has become the headstone of the corner. This is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes.
[12:54] Then we get to verse 24. This is the day which the Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord. O Lord, I beseech thee. Send now prosperity. Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
[13:07] We have blessed you out of the house of the Lord. God is the Lord, which he has showed us light. Bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar. Thou art my God, and I will praise thee.
[13:17] Thou art my God, and I will exalt thee. O give thanks unto the Lord for his good, for his mercy endureth forever. This song would have been sung on Palm Sunday, as Jesus rides into the city of what we call the Passion Week of his suffering.
[13:33] Psalm 118.25, where it says, Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord. O Lord, I beseech thee. Send now prosperity. Save now the king that has come.
[13:43] They would say, Hosanna. It's in verse 13. It says, New Testament took branches of palm trees and went forth to meet him and cried, Hosanna. Blessed is the king of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.
[13:57] Hosanna. Here is the king that has come to save us. That's what they would have sung. That is the day in which the Lord has made, and we will rejoice in it.
[14:08] It mentions a cornerstone, right? We don't think like that. Our homes were built upon a foundation. Some of the young people went on the world's cheapest mission trip, and you would have seen buildings. The Hindu temple in Lilburn, which is this incredibly large, and all made out of stone.
[14:24] And the way that it is, is that in the very center of it, is dropped down a capstone, where all the weight would go upon it. And it said, the one that the builders rejected, Jesus in which they were rejected, is the one, the cornerstone, on which all of the Bible, which all the story of this world has been built.
[14:43] So here's our New Testament commentary on Psalm 118. Jesus is addressing the chief priests and the elders, and they say to him, what authority do you say these things?
[14:54] What authority have you been given? Jesus answers and said to them, did you not read in the Bible, Matthew 21, 42, the stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner.
[15:05] This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. And then in Luke 20, verse 17 and 18, he references once again, speaking of the stone which the builders rejected there.
[15:20] But it's the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. From the context, this day is marvelous, and it's related to the stone that became the chief cornerstone.
[15:30] In the story, David had a reference to a personal day of deliverance, but we can see in our lives the day in which that the Lord has made is the salvation from the bondage of sin.
[15:43] Not just being surrounded by the enemy, being attacked like bees, nations coming from every side, there's salvation, but the day in which the Lord has made that we rejoice in is the day in which Jesus Christ, he died for us.
[15:55] And that is the day in which the Lord has made, and we rejoice in that. Charles Spurgeon says, the whole gospel, which is the day of God's making, and its blessings come to us through our Lord's being placed, the Lord's being placed as the head of the corner.
[16:11] We will rejoice and be glad in it. What else can we do? Every day, we ought to think about that day. Every day, we ought to think about the prophecies that were fulfilled, that Jesus endured the cross, that he went to it, and we ought to rejoice in this fact.
[16:29] A hymn written by Isaac Watts, speaking about Sunday, says, This is the day when Christ arose, so early from the dead. Why should my eyelids close and waste my hours in bed?
[16:42] This is the day when Jesus broke the powers of death and hell, and shall I still wear Satan's yoke and love my sins so well? Today, with pleasure, Christians meet to pray and hear thy word, and I would go with cheerful feet to learn thy will, O Lord.
[16:58] I'll leave my sport to read and pray, and so prepare. O may I love this blessed day, the best of all the seven. Rejoicing in that day, thinking about Sunday, he's talking about how can I not rejoice in this day in which the Lord has done this.
[17:17] So in the last five minutes, I want to give you some encouragement for tomorrow morning. Your invitation's going to happen tomorrow at different times. Some of you, it may happen 15 minutes after you want to get up, after you hit the snooze button, okay?
[17:28] That's what I'm talking about. Not in that time between when you're supposed to get up and the snooze button, that's between you and the Lord. Once you finally woke up, let's talk about rejoicing in the Lord. All right, Stephanie and Angie, after your coffee, okay?
[17:42] I'm going to give you that, all right? You can get up, you can get to your coffee, that's the part of the day that I'm talking about. How many of you need that coffee in the morning? Let me see your hands. Okay, a few of you. Every eye closed and every head bowed, all right?
[17:55] So let's talk about rejoicing. The psalm gives us some things. We've been going through a lot of psalms and it gives us some things. First of all, we should wake up with the habit of setting our mind on the enduring love.
[18:08] When we say, this is the day that the Lord has made our rejoice in Him, we know because of that day that Jesus Christ died that the worst things that could ever happen to us on this day cannot happen. We cannot be separated from the love of God.
[18:20] So we set our minds on that. Psalm 5.3, My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord. In the morning I will direct my prayers unto thee and I will look up. That speaks to being intentional.
[18:31] I'm going to set my heart on God's love. Psalm 88.13, But unto thee have I cried, O Lord, and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee. Crying out unto the Lord, directing your prayers unto God.
[18:46] Psalm 143.8, Cause me to hear thy loving kindness in the morning. For in thee do I trust. Cause me to know that the way wherein I should walk, for I lift up my soul unto thee.
[18:59] When you wake up in the morning and you can't say this is the day in which the Lord has made an hour of rejoicing in Him, your prayer ought to be, Cause me to hear thy loving kindness in the morning.
[19:10] Just be honest with the Lord. Say, Father, I don't hear it. I hear the birds singing. I hear everything's going on. But this morning, Lord, I don't hear it. My mind is just preoccupied.
[19:22] I am just distressed. I am surrounded by calamity on every side. And cry out to the Lord to help direct your heart towards His loving kindness. Jesus gives us the example in Mark 1.35, rising up in a great while before the day, He went out, departed into a solitary place, and there He prayed.
[19:41] So first of all, tomorrow morning, wake up, setting your mind upon the love of the Lord, that you'll be rejoicing in. Second, wake up knowing that His help is sufficient, that His help for you in the day is going to be sufficient.
[19:56] Moses asked the Lord to satisfy Him early with mercy so that He could rejoice all day long. Psalm 90, verse 14. You having a problem waking up rejoicing because you don't believe that what you are is enough and that you feel like it isn't sufficient?
[20:10] Write Psalm 90, verse 14 down. Oh, satisfy early with Thy mercy that we may rejoice and be glad all days. It would be a real shame if you waited until right now to begin rejoicing in the Lord.
[20:23] It didn't start when we all come together at 7 o'clock on Thursday. That was available to us all day long. Rise up early and say, Lord, satisfy me.
[20:33] Help me know that Your strength is enough for me. Psalm 57, 8. Wake up, my glory, awake, psaltery, and harp and myself will awake early. We've seen this a couple of times in the Psalms already where I say, can you imagine Ben Mize waking up in the morning and Kristen and them telling the guitar and the piano, wake up, it's time to go about what we're supposed to do.
[20:54] We are worshipers, wake up instruments because that's what you were created to do and that's what I'm created to do. So we rejoice in knowing that He is sufficient and then lastly, we wake up setting our hearts towards His love.
[21:08] We wake up knowing that His help is more than sufficient and then we wake up with an understanding that His death has given our life purpose. When you say this is the day that the Lord has made and I just can't believe Him, look back to the day when the worst thing in human history, the day where Satan was mocking, the day that Satan thought he was won, had won, and how the ancient of days had created that day in a way that gives our lives salvation and gives us purpose.
[21:37] If He can take that day and do what He did with it, why don't you think He can take a Wednesday, right, or a Thursday in your life? I'll end with this Psalm 104, verse 22 and verse 23, speaking along the lines of the fact that we should understand that His death has given our lives purpose.
[21:55] The sun ariseth that gathereth themselves together and lay them down in their dens. Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labor until the evening.
[22:05] God knowing this about us, that many of our days are going to be just waking up, laboring until the evening, and coming home. And you would say, well, that day was just kind of boring.
[22:16] That day was not, nothing was significant. I woke up, I labored, and I came to the evening. But God knows us about it. But the sun rose that morning for us, and that was His doing.
[22:29] And the sun went down at His bidding because this day that you had today, He made it. and we can rejoice in it because He made a day where the stone that was rejected became the cornerstone.
[22:42] He can take the weak things and He can baffle the wisdom of this world, the world's wisdom. He can overcome what seems strong. So let me encourage you in that. This is the day that the Lord hath made.
[22:54] I will rejoice and be glad in it. Miss Gita, should we sing that one more time before we leave? Thank you. You know, I look for the right person. I wasn't going to ask David or everybody. I wanted a yes.
[23:05] I was looking for a yes here. Okay, I'm going to pray and then as we leave the night, let's sing that one more time together on our way out. It's a kid's song, but it's not a kid's truth, right?
[23:16] It may be a set to the tune that kids sing, but it is a truth that we need as much as anybody ever would. Heavenly Father, we rejoice today and we look at Your Word.
[23:27] We see that all people are called to worship You, Israel, Aaron, all them and those that fear the Lord because You have shown forth Your mercy and we are so thankful that You have.
[23:38] Lord, this is the day for us to rejoice in You. Lord, this is the day of Your help. When we were surrounded on every side, You showed that You were more than strong enough and then, Lord, we look to the cross.
[23:51] Lord, it was prophesied here in Psalms and we look back to that day which You made that nobody could have understood exactly what You were doing and in Your wisdom, Lord, You provided salvation through that and on days, Lord, where we cannot rejoice in the day that we are in, we look to that day and say, that is the day that You made and we rejoice in Him and so we can look to the day that we have in front of us and rejoice in it as well.
[24:18] Father, would You help our brothers and sisters in Christ, Lord, tomorrow morning set their heart towards Your love. Lord, be strengthened in the fact that You are strong enough and help them, Lord, that Your death in our place has given our lives purpose.
[24:34] In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.