WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.140 It's so nice to be with all of you tonight and it's a great honor and privilege to preach 00:00:06.140 --> 00:00:07.820 from this Psalm in the Bible. 00:00:07.820 --> 00:00:12.919 We are continuing our series during the summer called Summer Psalms. 00:00:12.919 --> 00:00:20.039 So last week James Eglinton preached on Psalm 16 and today we will look at Psalm 118 together 00:00:20.039 --> 00:00:25.280 and it's great that you have so many Bibles with you and you can just keep it open. 00:00:25.280 --> 00:00:30.480 And I will refer to the Psalm every now and then maybe a few fun facts in the beginning. 00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:35.920 Psalm 118 is the Psalm right in the middle of the Bible. 00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:40.160 Psalm 119 right afterwards, the longest chapter in the Bible. 00:00:40.160 --> 00:00:42.560 Psalm 117, the shortest chapter in the Bible. 00:00:42.560 --> 00:00:47.799 I'm not quite sure how that is going to connect to my sermon but it's fun to know. 00:00:47.799 --> 00:00:50.040 So there you go. 00:00:50.040 --> 00:00:53.560 Psalm 118 is a very significant Psalm. 00:00:53.560 --> 00:00:58.000 Not that some Psalms are significant and others are not significant at all. 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:03.719 No, all Psalms are significant but this Psalm is quoted 13 times in the New Testament which 00:01:03.719 --> 00:01:06.760 is more than any other Psalm. 00:01:06.760 --> 00:01:12.280 And the reason why it's quoted so often is because it's all about Jesus. 00:01:12.280 --> 00:01:15.079 The whole Psalm is all about Jesus. 00:01:15.079 --> 00:01:17.540 It is the gospel in the Old Testament. 00:01:17.540 --> 00:01:21.120 It is the good news in the Old Testament. 00:01:21.120 --> 00:01:28.760 And I hope to show you that this Psalm portrays Jesus as the cornerstone on which we have 00:01:28.760 --> 00:01:33.280 to build our life and how Jesus became the cornerstone and what exactly that means for 00:01:33.280 --> 00:01:34.280 us. 00:01:34.280 --> 00:01:37.080 But first we will look at the Psalm itself. 00:01:37.080 --> 00:01:38.520 How is it structured? 00:01:38.520 --> 00:01:42.400 What is the picture this Psalm is painting? 00:01:42.400 --> 00:01:45.040 And so just a few facts about the Psalm. 00:01:45.040 --> 00:01:52.440 So Psalm 118 is part of a collection of Psalms within the book of Psalms. 00:01:52.440 --> 00:01:58.680 So Psalm 113 to 118 are called the Egyptian Halal. 00:01:58.680 --> 00:02:01.680 And you will know by the word Halal. 00:02:01.680 --> 00:02:04.320 We know it from the other word hallelujah. 00:02:04.320 --> 00:02:08.040 Hallelujah means praise, pray to God or praise the Lord. 00:02:08.040 --> 00:02:09.560 So halal means praise. 00:02:09.560 --> 00:02:12.800 Hence the word Egyptian praise. 00:02:12.800 --> 00:02:20.600 Why Egyptian? because this group of Psalms usually would have been sung at the festivals. 00:02:20.600 --> 00:02:24.400 At the three annual festivals the Jews would celebrate each year. 00:02:24.400 --> 00:02:26.120 One of them being the Passover. 00:02:26.120 --> 00:02:32.000 And the Passover is all about the Exodus and how God delivered his people from slavery 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:33.560 in Egypt. 00:02:33.560 --> 00:02:39.640 So this Psalm would have been the last Psalm the Jews would have sung at the Passover 00:02:39.640 --> 00:02:40.800 dinner. 00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:47.280 And we know that Jesus had a Passover dinner on the day before he was crucified. 00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:51.680 So that's how we know that Jesus actually sang this Psalm. 00:02:51.680 --> 00:02:56.560 And this was the last Psalm he ever sang before he died. 00:02:56.560 --> 00:03:02.640 Just like we have Easter songs or Christmas songs they have these Psalms to celebrate 00:03:02.640 --> 00:03:09.600 the Passover and the focus on the Exodus thematically on how God delivered them. 00:03:09.599 --> 00:03:13.879 And that's something really important we should keep in mind when we talk about Psalms. 00:03:13.879 --> 00:03:16.439 Psalms are songs. 00:03:16.439 --> 00:03:22.840 If I would ask any one of you to name your favorite book some of you are readers they 00:03:22.840 --> 00:03:24.340 like to read. 00:03:24.340 --> 00:03:26.879 Probably some kids you like to read Harry Potter. 00:03:26.879 --> 00:03:32.639 And I would ask you to quote one page word for word to me. 00:03:32.639 --> 00:03:34.359 You probably couldn't do it. 00:03:34.360 --> 00:03:40.200 But if I would ask some of the kids here to recite their favorite song from Taylor Swift 00:03:40.200 --> 00:03:42.840 they could probably do it. 00:03:42.840 --> 00:03:46.880 Both of them have about 280 words. 00:03:46.880 --> 00:03:51.560 The reason why we can remember one is because it's a song it's got melody. 00:03:51.560 --> 00:03:53.480 It does something with us. 00:03:53.480 --> 00:03:55.520 It evokes emotions in us. 00:03:55.520 --> 00:03:58.000 And that is what Psalms do and we shouldn't forget that. 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:02.880 So as I go through the Psalm with you I'll try not to take the melody out of the Psalm 00:04:02.879 --> 00:04:06.960 but I still will try to explain some of the things we read about. 00:04:06.960 --> 00:04:09.400 So what is happening in the Psalm? 00:04:09.400 --> 00:04:12.960 In the Psalm we get a feeling of excitement. 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:16.000 There's some great occasion that is happening. 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:18.600 There's excitement around the place. 00:04:18.600 --> 00:04:21.159 It starts off with this liturgy. 00:04:21.159 --> 00:04:27.480 I'll give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever. 00:04:27.480 --> 00:04:30.800 Let Israel say His steadfast love endures forever. 00:04:30.800 --> 00:04:34.520 It's like a call and response kind of thing. 00:04:34.520 --> 00:04:38.720 Sometimes I think in Gallic, Psalm singing, if I'm not completely mistaken, the same thing 00:04:38.720 --> 00:04:43.000 happens where someone gives a line and then the rest joins in. 00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:49.400 So we have some sort of festival going on, some sort of ceremony, a procession where 00:04:49.400 --> 00:04:56.720 people with a single person in its mid, a single worshiper at its center, they progress 00:04:56.720 --> 00:05:03.760 towards the temple to give thanks for God's deliverance and the victory He has given them. 00:05:03.760 --> 00:05:04.880 Why victory? 00:05:04.880 --> 00:05:07.440 Why is there one person you may ask? 00:05:07.440 --> 00:05:12.600 So in verses 10 to 12, if you want to look at in your Bible, it says, all nations surrounded 00:05:12.600 --> 00:05:14.600 me in the name of the Lord, I cut them off. 00:05:14.600 --> 00:05:17.160 They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side. 00:05:17.160 --> 00:05:18.600 They surrounded me like bees. 00:05:18.600 --> 00:05:20.500 He's repeating that. 00:05:20.500 --> 00:05:24.120 And that is one person speaking at that point. 00:05:24.120 --> 00:05:27.399 And it's probably a king. 00:05:27.399 --> 00:05:29.280 That is what a lot of commentators say. 00:05:29.280 --> 00:05:30.280 Why a king? 00:05:30.280 --> 00:05:32.560 Well, you and I would probably not pray like that. 00:05:32.560 --> 00:05:37.759 We probably wouldn't say, the nation surrounded me. 00:05:37.759 --> 00:05:44.480 You and I don't get in situations where we feel surrounded by the nations, do we? 00:05:44.480 --> 00:05:47.000 Who does feel surrounded by nations? 00:05:47.000 --> 00:05:52.480 Probably a military leader, probably someone who is a high politician, probably a king. 00:05:52.480 --> 00:06:02.240 So we have this picture of a king riding through the gates of the city towards the temple 00:06:02.240 --> 00:06:05.000 to bring a sacrifice. 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:08.319 We see that in verse 27. 00:06:08.319 --> 00:06:14.000 It's a very difficult Hebrew sentence to translate, but it says this, bind the festival sacrifice 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:17.520 with cords up to the horns of the altar. 00:06:17.520 --> 00:06:21.439 So that is what is happening in this sun. 00:06:21.439 --> 00:06:26.759 One person followed by a crowd, one king probably followed by a crowd. 00:06:26.759 --> 00:06:30.160 And the people sing to him and pronounce blessing on him. 00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:32.959 Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. 00:06:32.959 --> 00:06:39.159 And they sing, save we pray, oh Lord, save us we pray. 00:06:39.159 --> 00:06:43.759 And save us we pray is in its original language in Hebrew. 00:06:43.759 --> 00:06:48.000 Usually preachers aren't supposed to talk about Hebrew and Greek, but you all are clever 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:50.959 people, so I think we can manage. 00:06:50.959 --> 00:06:56.799 I bet that 90% of you will have heard that Hebrew sentence in its original language because 00:06:56.799 --> 00:06:59.079 it's called hosiana. 00:06:59.079 --> 00:07:02.279 And we sometimes say that still, hosana to the highest. 00:07:02.279 --> 00:07:04.279 We quote from the Bible. 00:07:04.279 --> 00:07:07.399 Hosana means save us we pray, oh Lord. 00:07:07.399 --> 00:07:13.599 But during that time, it had become a sentence that also meant you have saved us and therefore 00:07:13.599 --> 00:07:15.199 we praise you. 00:07:15.199 --> 00:07:17.240 It's like a hooray. 00:07:17.240 --> 00:07:21.120 And I think there are some Bible translations that actually translated like that, like a 00:07:21.120 --> 00:07:23.519 hooray. 00:07:23.519 --> 00:07:28.360 But what it means is it's a prayer, save us we pray. 00:07:28.360 --> 00:07:33.680 And now we get to the really, really cool part because we get the fulfillment of this 00:07:33.680 --> 00:07:38.079 Psalm in the New Testament, in the person of Jesus Christ. 00:07:38.079 --> 00:07:45.160 And some of you are already thinking, okay, city gate, a procession, a king riding. 00:07:45.160 --> 00:07:55.480 Well, Matthew chapter 21, in Matthew chapter 21, we get a picture of Jesus riding on a 00:07:55.480 --> 00:07:59.200 donkey through the gates of Jerusalem. 00:07:59.200 --> 00:08:01.800 And what do the people say? 00:08:01.800 --> 00:08:05.840 The people saying hosana to the son of David. 00:08:05.840 --> 00:08:10.440 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, hosana. 00:08:10.440 --> 00:08:14.480 They quote exactly precisely from this Psalm. 00:08:14.480 --> 00:08:16.160 And what week have we got? 00:08:16.160 --> 00:08:17.160 What's the week? 00:08:17.160 --> 00:08:18.560 It's a Passover week. 00:08:18.560 --> 00:08:21.120 So it all fits together, you see. 00:08:21.120 --> 00:08:25.120 The true king has come and the people greet him. 00:08:25.120 --> 00:08:29.759 Well, five days later, they crucify him. 00:08:29.759 --> 00:08:36.120 But on the first day, they sing blessings and pronounce blessings upon the king. 00:08:36.120 --> 00:08:42.600 And in the whole chapter, Matthew chapter 20, 21, we see Jesus referencing this Psalm 00:08:42.600 --> 00:08:45.840 again and again. 00:08:45.840 --> 00:08:54.279 In verse nine, as I said, hosana to the son of David. 00:08:54.279 --> 00:08:57.080 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 00:08:57.080 --> 00:09:05.240 Then later on, in verse 15, we get the children who sing hosana. 00:09:05.240 --> 00:09:09.000 And the interesting thing is that throughout the chapter, there is a theme going on of 00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:14.039 people who understand that Jesus is the Messiah, that he is the true king. 00:09:14.039 --> 00:09:16.399 And there are people who don't get it. 00:09:16.399 --> 00:09:23.559 And it's usually, it's not the people you would expect to understand Jesus' message. 00:09:23.559 --> 00:09:25.720 It's the people who are outside us. 00:09:25.720 --> 00:09:29.120 So the children in verse 15, they understand it. 00:09:29.120 --> 00:09:31.720 The chief priests and teachers, they don't get it. 00:09:31.720 --> 00:09:38.000 In verse 31, we see that Jesus commends tax collectors and prostitutes and say, they actually 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:39.919 get what I'm all about. 00:09:39.919 --> 00:09:42.720 And the Pharisees and priests and teachers, they don't. 00:09:42.720 --> 00:09:48.480 And the parable of the tenants, which Zach Purvis preached on last Sunday morning, Jesus 00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:51.440 actually quotes this Psalm himself. 00:09:51.440 --> 00:09:58.159 In reference to himself, he says, the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. 00:09:58.159 --> 00:10:03.799 The Lord has done this and it is marvelous in her eyes. 00:10:03.799 --> 00:10:08.359 It actually says in the Bible in that passage that the teachers and priests, they know that 00:10:08.359 --> 00:10:10.839 Jesus is talking about them. 00:10:10.839 --> 00:10:14.679 Yet they don't want to believe that. 00:10:14.679 --> 00:10:21.000 They hate it because Jesus did not come in the way that they wanted him to come. 00:10:21.000 --> 00:10:24.679 The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. 00:10:24.679 --> 00:10:26.359 It's the irony of Christianity. 00:10:26.359 --> 00:10:28.919 Jesus did not come as a mighty warrior. 00:10:28.919 --> 00:10:33.439 Jesus came as a suffering king, as a servant. 00:10:33.440 --> 00:10:40.040 So the builders that reject the cornerstone are the teachers, the priests, the religious 00:10:40.040 --> 00:10:43.760 leaders of Jesus's time. 00:10:43.760 --> 00:10:48.720 Jesus is the cornerstone, the rejected stone. 00:10:48.720 --> 00:10:53.720 So we will talk about the cornerstone maybe for a bit because what is a cornerstone? 00:10:53.720 --> 00:10:54.880 Why is it so important? 00:10:54.880 --> 00:10:55.880 What does it mean? 00:10:55.880 --> 00:10:58.920 We don't live in Jesus's day and age. 00:10:58.919 --> 00:11:04.120 So we don't really understand some of the things he says just like this morning. 00:11:04.120 --> 00:11:07.179 Most of us haven't sown a mustard seed. 00:11:07.179 --> 00:11:10.199 Most of us haven't built a house. 00:11:10.199 --> 00:11:14.120 Most of us haven't laid the foundation of a cornerstone. 00:11:14.120 --> 00:11:21.199 But before the times of the industrialization, the cornerstone was a really, really important 00:11:21.199 --> 00:11:22.199 stone. 00:11:22.199 --> 00:11:25.559 It was the first stone that people would lay down when they built a house and they would 00:11:25.559 --> 00:11:28.079 have a ceremony for that. 00:11:28.080 --> 00:11:33.280 And it's such an important stone because it gave the direction for the rest of the house. 00:11:33.280 --> 00:11:39.920 So you needed a stone that was perfect, without blemish, so it could give you the directions 00:11:39.920 --> 00:11:41.639 of all the other walls. 00:11:41.639 --> 00:11:44.000 It was a stone that kept the walls together. 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:49.120 And if you take it out, the whole house would crumble. 00:11:49.120 --> 00:11:54.040 So when the Bible says that Jesus is the cornerstone, and we know that he is because he says that 00:11:54.039 --> 00:12:02.759 about himself, then that means that God chose him as the cornerstone, the foundational stone 00:12:02.759 --> 00:12:05.639 to build his church on him. 00:12:05.639 --> 00:12:13.120 In Ephesians chapter 2, verse 20 to 21, we read that Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone 00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:23.799 in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 00:12:23.799 --> 00:12:30.000 The teachers, the Pharisees, the chief priests, they didn't see the true value of Jesus. 00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:35.759 I don't know if you are interested in celebrity stories sometimes. 00:12:35.759 --> 00:12:38.919 I quite like to hear a good underdog story. 00:12:38.919 --> 00:12:45.240 So for example, Tom Brady, famous, one of the best American football players ever, was 00:12:45.240 --> 00:12:49.279 drafted as the last person in his draft and became one of the most successful players 00:12:49.279 --> 00:12:50.279 of all time. 00:12:50.279 --> 00:12:57.799 J.K. Rowling, she wrote the Harry Potter books, she was rejected by 12 publishers before someone 00:12:57.799 --> 00:12:59.839 took her on. 00:12:59.839 --> 00:13:04.679 The band Queen produced a song called The Human Repsity that was rejected at first and 00:13:04.679 --> 00:13:07.799 became one of the best songs of all time. 00:13:07.799 --> 00:13:13.039 So we see these stories of people don't see the true value of something that later becomes 00:13:13.039 --> 00:13:15.759 really important and successful. 00:13:15.759 --> 00:13:21.960 Now we're not talking about a song here or an athlete or an author, but we talk about 00:13:21.960 --> 00:13:30.919 the most important person for the most important thing that has ever happened in human history. 00:13:30.919 --> 00:13:37.919 We talk about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Messiah, and he was rejected by his own 00:13:37.919 --> 00:13:40.639 people. 00:13:40.639 --> 00:13:43.080 Let me ask you a few questions. 00:13:43.080 --> 00:13:44.879 Let's make this a bit more personal. 00:13:44.879 --> 00:13:50.799 So if the temple of God, if his people, if the church is built on Jesus as the cornerstone, 00:13:50.799 --> 00:13:57.120 that also means that we as individuals need to be built on Jesus as our cornerstone. 00:13:57.120 --> 00:14:01.000 In 1 Corinthians chapter 6, we read that we are temples of the Holy Spirit. 00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:05.080 So let's make this a bit more individual just now. 00:14:05.080 --> 00:14:07.559 And let me ask you a few diagnostic questions. 00:14:07.559 --> 00:14:09.519 First of all, very obvious. 00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:15.360 Are you building your life on the one true cornerstone? 00:14:15.360 --> 00:14:20.079 We just learned that the symbolism means to say that the cornerstone is the most important 00:14:20.079 --> 00:14:22.120 stone in a building. 00:14:22.120 --> 00:14:25.519 So how do you view Jesus? 00:14:25.519 --> 00:14:31.039 Is he the most important stone in your life building, as it were? 00:14:31.039 --> 00:14:34.480 Or is he just another stone among many? 00:14:34.480 --> 00:14:39.039 If you take Jesus out, would that make a difference or not? 00:14:39.039 --> 00:14:42.799 I read a quote by C.S. Lewis that I thought was very helpful. 00:14:42.799 --> 00:14:43.799 And he writes this. 00:14:43.799 --> 00:14:52.839 He says, Christianity, the claims of the gospel, if false is of no importance, but if true 00:14:52.839 --> 00:14:58.439 of infinite importance, the only thing it cannot be is moderately important. 00:14:58.439 --> 00:15:02.039 You see, Christianity, if false, it doesn't matter. 00:15:02.039 --> 00:15:03.839 If no importance at all. 00:15:03.839 --> 00:15:07.879 And if true, it is of infinite importance. 00:15:07.879 --> 00:15:12.399 The only thing it can't be is moderately important. 00:15:12.399 --> 00:15:14.200 Let's think about that. 00:15:14.200 --> 00:15:19.240 If you are not building your life on Jesus as your cornerstone, what is your cornerstone 00:15:19.240 --> 00:15:20.320 instead? 00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:25.360 And what makes you think that it'll be strong enough to bear the weight of your house, even 00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:27.799 when winds come? 00:15:27.799 --> 00:15:30.159 When the storm comes? 00:15:30.159 --> 00:15:33.639 Over the course of history, people have built on many things. 00:15:33.639 --> 00:15:35.399 People have built on money. 00:15:35.399 --> 00:15:37.519 Inflation came and it was all gone. 00:15:37.519 --> 00:15:43.199 People have built on their skills, their talents, their ability as an athlete. 00:15:43.199 --> 00:15:47.559 And they injured themselves and their identity was gone. 00:15:47.559 --> 00:15:49.559 People have built on their beauty. 00:15:49.559 --> 00:15:54.720 And 60 years later, I've realized our skin was all wrinkled up and it wasn't so smooth 00:15:54.720 --> 00:15:55.720 anymore. 00:15:55.720 --> 00:15:56.799 I mean, my skin is never really smooth. 00:15:56.799 --> 00:15:59.879 So that's not a problem I have to deal with. 00:15:59.879 --> 00:16:01.639 Maybe it's your intellect, your intelligence. 00:16:01.639 --> 00:16:03.199 You think you're very smart. 00:16:03.200 --> 00:16:08.960 And one day you start to forget things and you get a diagnosis and it is not what you 00:16:08.960 --> 00:16:10.320 can build on. 00:16:10.320 --> 00:16:15.840 But if you build on the one and true cornerstone, Jesus Christ, and you take your life directions 00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:21.320 from him, you will be able to lean on that promise that he gives you here in Psalm 118, 00:16:21.320 --> 00:16:24.200 that he will never ever forsake you or leave you. 00:16:24.200 --> 00:16:30.360 If you become a Christian, you become a living stone in the temple of the people of God. 00:16:30.360 --> 00:16:37.560 Being held together by Christ as our cornerstone, his steadfast love endures forever, steadfast 00:16:37.560 --> 00:16:44.960 love, hasted love, country translated, his covenant love, meaning he will always be there 00:16:44.960 --> 00:16:50.080 for you no matter what, even if you mess up. 00:16:50.080 --> 00:16:52.600 So how did Jesus become the cornerstone? 00:16:52.600 --> 00:16:53.600 What happened there? 00:16:53.600 --> 00:16:55.139 Why is it so important? 00:16:55.139 --> 00:16:57.840 Why did people reject him? 00:16:57.840 --> 00:17:02.200 I've already said that Jesus was not what people had expected. 00:17:02.200 --> 00:17:07.720 He did not come to free the Jews in their time of the oppression of the Romans. 00:17:07.720 --> 00:17:09.480 He came to free them of something else. 00:17:09.480 --> 00:17:12.960 He came to free them of their sins. 00:17:12.960 --> 00:17:14.840 And the people did not understand it. 00:17:14.840 --> 00:17:20.600 They wanted someone who came with a sword, an armor, and who would maybe lead an army 00:17:20.600 --> 00:17:22.519 against the Romans. 00:17:22.519 --> 00:17:25.279 But Jesus said, no, no, you're not getting it. 00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:29.720 My sword is the word of God and my only weapon is radical love. 00:17:29.720 --> 00:17:31.480 And that's what he did. 00:17:31.480 --> 00:17:36.319 He actually became the cornerstone by saving us through his sacrifice. 00:17:36.319 --> 00:17:41.160 Verse 27, the Lord is God and he has made his light to shine upon us. 00:17:41.160 --> 00:17:45.960 Bind the festival sacrifice with quartz up to the horns of the altar. 00:17:45.960 --> 00:17:51.960 You see, Psalm 118, it finds its fulfillment in this chapter in Matthew 21. 00:17:51.960 --> 00:17:57.680 And in the whole Easter week, Jesus did not come in the way people expected him to come, 00:17:57.680 --> 00:18:02.720 not as a mighty warrior king, but as a king who suffers and who serves. 00:18:02.720 --> 00:18:07.200 And in that night before he was betrayed, he would have sung this Psalm again with his 00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:13.440 disciples as the last Psalm before his death, setting his eyes upon what was to come, setting 00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:15.759 his eyes on the cross. 00:18:15.759 --> 00:18:23.039 You read in Matthew chapter 26 that when they had sung a hymn, when they had sung the Psalms, 00:18:23.039 --> 00:18:27.879 they went out to the Mount of Olives and from there on the story continued. 00:18:27.879 --> 00:18:32.920 I don't know what Jesus felt like when he sang the words, the Lord is on my side, I 00:18:32.920 --> 00:18:34.119 will not fear. 00:18:34.119 --> 00:18:35.400 What can man do to me? 00:18:35.400 --> 00:18:38.019 I shall not die but live. 00:18:38.019 --> 00:18:42.440 But he already knew at that moment what was going to happen. 00:18:42.440 --> 00:18:47.720 On the road in Jerusalem, when he rode into the city, he had already set his mind on the 00:18:47.720 --> 00:18:48.720 cross. 00:18:48.720 --> 00:18:56.279 The true deliverer had come to deliver his people once and for all as a sacrifice. 00:18:56.279 --> 00:19:02.840 You see the ceremony that is described in Psalm 118, that procession, it all became 00:19:02.840 --> 00:19:05.519 true, one commentator writes. 00:19:05.519 --> 00:19:10.400 What those who took part in such a ceremony could have never first seen was that it would 00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:19.200 one day enact itself on the road to Jerusalem, unrehearsed, unliturgical and with explosive 00:19:19.200 --> 00:19:20.480 force. 00:19:20.480 --> 00:19:25.720 In that week when God's realities broke through his symbols and shadows, the horns of the 00:19:25.720 --> 00:19:32.000 altar became the arms of the cross and the festival itself found fulfillment in Christ, 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:34.519 our Passover. 00:19:34.519 --> 00:19:39.480 Jesus came to be our Passover. 00:19:39.480 --> 00:19:43.319 This is, as it were, the new Passover lamb. 00:19:43.319 --> 00:19:49.680 In 1 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 7, Paul says, get rid of the old yeasts so that you may 00:19:49.680 --> 00:19:53.400 be a new unleavened batch, as you really are. 00:19:53.400 --> 00:19:57.480 For Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. 00:19:57.480 --> 00:20:04.920 You see, Jesus came in that Passover week knowing that although the Israelites sacrificed 00:20:04.920 --> 00:20:10.759 thousands of lambs, they were not enough to atone for the sin of the world. 00:20:10.759 --> 00:20:11.759 You needed something else. 00:20:11.759 --> 00:20:18.920 You needed someone who was a true God man, who was perfect, who was obedient, perfectly 00:20:18.920 --> 00:20:23.960 obedient and earned salvation for all humankind. 00:20:23.960 --> 00:20:29.519 And that could only be done by the Son of God, only by Jesus Christ. 00:20:29.519 --> 00:20:35.319 And it is in Him that we find forgiveness and purpose. 00:20:35.319 --> 00:20:39.519 It is through Him that we are justified and made right with God. 00:20:39.519 --> 00:20:43.680 It is on Him that we can rest now as our cornerstone. 00:20:43.680 --> 00:20:50.759 The Westminster Confession says, faith is a resting upon and a receiving. 00:20:50.759 --> 00:20:53.279 That is what we do as Christians. 00:20:53.279 --> 00:20:54.799 We don't do it. 00:20:54.799 --> 00:20:57.079 That's the irony. 00:20:57.079 --> 00:21:01.480 We believe that Jesus did it for us and we rest on that. 00:21:01.480 --> 00:21:06.839 Through Him we are justified and we have all the blessings that He wants to give us. 00:21:06.839 --> 00:21:12.119 We are adopted, sons and daughters of the highest King. 00:21:12.119 --> 00:21:13.319 We are justified. 00:21:13.319 --> 00:21:17.000 We are united with Him. 00:21:17.000 --> 00:21:20.759 I went to a wedding and I will close with this. 00:21:20.759 --> 00:21:27.440 I went to a wedding just a couple of weeks ago in Germany and the pastor, he quoted 00:21:27.440 --> 00:21:30.480 a German theologian called Dietrich Bonhöfer. 00:21:30.480 --> 00:21:33.440 And I've never heard that quote before, but I thought it was so fitting. 00:21:33.440 --> 00:21:39.200 Of course, fitting for a wedding, but fitting for our faith as well. 00:21:39.200 --> 00:21:44.879 He says this, love doesn't want anything from the other person. 00:21:44.879 --> 00:21:48.759 Love wants everything for the other person. 00:21:48.759 --> 00:21:50.879 And our true is that for Jesus. 00:21:50.879 --> 00:21:57.000 He doesn't require anything from us because there is nothing we could have given Him. 00:21:57.000 --> 00:22:02.680 And yet He gave everything for us when He died for us in. 00:22:02.680 --> 00:22:06.160 See Jesus didn't judge us, but He came to be judged in our place. 00:22:06.160 --> 00:22:10.440 He didn't hate us, but He came to be hated and to be rejected. 00:22:10.440 --> 00:22:13.359 He did not reject us, but He was rejected for us. 00:22:13.359 --> 00:22:18.599 He did not make us suffer, but He suffered for us. 00:22:18.599 --> 00:22:24.599 And once you see that and once you understand that, there is only one appropriate reaction. 00:22:24.599 --> 00:22:29.959 And that is to say, Jesus, you died for me, so I will live for you. 00:22:29.959 --> 00:22:36.799 He is the true cornerstone, the suffering King, the true new Passover lamb of God. 00:22:36.799 --> 00:22:42.039 2000 years ago when He died on that cross, when the people were singing the words of 00:22:42.039 --> 00:22:44.639 Psalm 118. 00:22:44.639 --> 00:22:47.039 And that is true for all eternity. 00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:53.319 And it is true today so we can sing together with the whole church of all ages. 00:22:53.319 --> 00:22:58.279 We can sing, I shall not die, but I shall live. 00:22:58.279 --> 00:23:01.599 The Lord is my song and my salvation. 00:23:01.599 --> 00:23:04.759 Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. 00:23:04.759 --> 00:23:05.759 Let us pray. 00:23:05.759 --> 00:23:12.039 Father, we thank You that You sent Your Son, Jesus Christ, to be our true cornerstone. 00:23:12.039 --> 00:23:19.359 May I ask that maybe there is someone here tonight who hasn't let you in their life, 00:23:19.359 --> 00:23:21.559 who hasn't accepted Your love for them. 00:23:21.559 --> 00:23:26.319 And I pray that You would just draw them close to You, Father. 00:23:26.319 --> 00:23:30.720 That through Your Son, Jesus Christ, through Your Holy Spirit, You would warm their hearts, 00:23:30.720 --> 00:23:35.879 You would touch them, You would open their eyes so they would see that it's all true. 00:23:35.879 --> 00:23:40.319 That You are a loving and good God and that Your steadfast love endures forever. 00:23:40.319 --> 00:23:45.639 We thank You so much for this Psalm and for the gift of music and to enjoy this Psalm 00:23:45.639 --> 00:23:46.960 with melody. 00:23:46.960 --> 00:23:54.279 And as we will sing this Psalm now, I pray that You would make that a reality in our hearts, 00:23:54.279 --> 00:24:01.519 that You would let that be an explosive truth in our heart and that that would be transformative 00:24:01.519 --> 00:24:03.599 for our lives. 00:24:03.599 --> 00:24:05.599 In Jesus' name we give thanks. 00:24:05.599 --> 00:24:06.599 Amen.