A Psummer in the Psalms: Confidence in the Chief Corner Stone of Our Salvation Psalm 118 (Psalms 118)

1:05Well, let me make sure we know where we are. Oh, okay, we're in Psalms, aren't we? We're in the summer of the Psalms, and this is our last one, and I say that with a little tear in my eye. But we will come back to more Psalms in the future. Psalms is just a wonderful book to dig into and to be a part of. And what's thrilling oftentimes about the book of Psalms is that when you see it quoted in the New Testament, And I've said before that Psalm 118, which is what we're in today, would you turn to Psalm 118? We'll look at that in just a moment. But this Psalm is quoted in the New Testament more than any other Psalm, or at least alluded to. And as I was studying it, I thought, you know, if I had a year, I could probably go through this and develop all the passages that the New Testament quotes in reference to this particular chapter and why it's so important. But we'll look at one that's extremely important for us to understand today, and that is the stone that the builders rejected became the chief cornerstone in verse 22. It's amazing. Last week, if you were here, I mentioned that Pastor Tom and I, we did not compare notes, we didn't compare what we were going to be teaching. The Lord must have us, as a church, wanting us to talk about, think about, prepare for suffering and persecution. Because if you were here this morning, you saw in 1 Peter 4 the importance of understanding that whole topic. And really, at the end of the day, we don't look at persecution as something that's bad that's going on, but an opportunity to praise God for what He's doing in our lives. And I can't think of a better Old Testament counterpart, an equivalent, to 1 Peter in terms of suffering, perhaps, than Psalm 118. The title of today's message is Confidence in the Chief Cornerstone of Our Salvation. I'll say it again. The title is Confidence in the Chief Cornerstone of Our Salvation.

3:00That's just to try to capture Psalm 118, and then, of course, Jesus in the New Testament when he talks about the stone that the builders rejected. So, Psalm 118. As we think about this chapter, we would say to the unsuspecting reader, everything would seem hopeless for this psalmist. He would seem to be in a period of utter desperation. And four times, he says he's surrounded by his enemies, and the language that he uses sort of gives a not just a surrounding, but on all sides, he looks around him, and everywhere enemies are circling around him, surrounding him. And he describes them with a word picture of enemies swarming at him like bees. And then he confesses that they shoved him violently. They pushed him to the ground, physically, pushed him to the ground.

3:56The key thing about this chapter to keep in mind is that it's a chapter that opens up four times with thanking God for being good, and then it ends, just like book ends on a shelf. Four times he's thanking God. He goes through turbulence. He comes out of turbulence, and then he thanks God again at the very end. And so we would say that he thanked God, he prayed, and God saved him. That really summarizes the entire chapter. In the middle of the chapter, we find that the writer is in this cyclical pattern of utter desperation. Aspiration for salvation and of God's marvelous deliverance. He can't wait to see what God's going to do, and he has this confidence that doesn't make sense to most normal people who go through suffering, but he understood because he'd gone through it so many times and he'd watch God's testimony in his life.

4:49You ever find yourself silently wondering, God, do you really see what I'm going through here? This hurts. Do you really see what my family member is facing or what my neighbor is going through, my grandparents, my grandchildren? Do you really get what's going on in my life, God? You don't have nations surrounding you to attack you like this guy did. He saw them. Of course, nations want to attack us, but that's not what we're focused on necessarily. We're focused on what's going on in our lives.

5:25And every one of us has a story today. If we were just to go around the room and tell me what you're struggling with in terms of the pain in your life, we would have an endless evening. There's pain in the psalmist's life, and he looks around him and he sees it everywhere. They're surrounding me. They're surrounding me. They're surrounding me. They're surrounding me. And then he says, In the name of God, in the name of Yahweh, I'll cut them off.

5:51Here's what we're looking at today. We're looking at two reasons, two reasons to continually thank God. Why? So that. That He receives the glory for our salvation because He's the one who receives the glory for our salvation. It's not in and of our own selves that we would call on God without Him showing His faithfulness first. Here's the first one: We're going to see the entry requirements into Yahweh's gates of righteousness, God's gates of righteousness, and we need to thank God so that He gets the glory for that. Number two, we're going to see that the people must be thankful to God for showing them His marvelous salvation, because that's exactly what goes on here. God shows His salvation in the turbulent times that this man goes through. Would you follow along with me as I read from Psalm 118? And again, we're going to do the whole chapter just to keep it in context, but our primary focus today will be verses 19 to the end of the chapter. So, starting in Psalm 118, verse 1, it reads this way: He says, Give thanks to Yahweh, the Lord, for he is good, for his loving-kindness is everlasting. Oh, let Israel say, His loving-kindness is everlasting. Oh, let the house of Aaron say, His loving-kindness is everlasting. Oh, let those who fear the Lord say, His loving-kindness is everlasting.

7:17For my distress, I called on the Lord. The Lord answered me and set me in a large place. The Lord is for me. I'll not fear. What can man do to me? The Lord is for me among those who help me, therefore. I will look with satisfaction on those who hate me. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes or, as I said last week, politicians.

7:44All nations surrounded me in the name of Yahweh. In the name of the Lord, I will surely cut them off. They surrounded me. Yes, they surrounded me. In the name of the Lord, I will surely cut them off. They surrounded me like bees. They were extinguished as a fire of thorns. In the name of Yahweh, I will surely cut them off. You pushed me violently so that I was falling, but the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength and my song, and has become my salvation. The sound of joyful shouting and salvation is in the tents of the righteous. The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. The right hand of the Lord is exalted. The right hand of the Lord does valiantly.

8:28I'm not going to die, but live. And tell the works of the Lord. The Lord has disciplined me severely, but he has not given me over to death. Open to me the gates of righteousness, and I shall enter through them. I shall give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord. The righteous will enter through it. I shall give you thanks. For you have answered me. You have become my salvation. The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This is the Lord. Doing. And it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Lord, do save, we beseech you. Lord, we beseech you. Do send prosperity. Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. We have blessed you from the house of the Lord. The Lord is God, and he has given us light. Bind the festival sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar. You are my God, and I give thanks to you. You are my God. I extol you. And he ends the chapter the same way he started it, repeating it for the fifth time, because it's important. He says, Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his loving kindness is everlasting. We are to give thanks to the Lord before we enter misery's crucible. We are to give thanks to the Lord when we're in misery's crucible, and we are in a situation where we must give thanks to the Lord after we've come out.

9:57Need to keep in mind that Psalm 113 through 118 are the Egyptian halels, the Egyptian praises. They sang these six Psalms, 113 through 118, how many times a year? 18 times a year. These weren't committed to rote memory, these were long-term memory. Every single word of every single verse in all six chapters. Psalm 118 was sung before and after the Passover meals. Likely, the song that was sung after Jesus celebrated the first communion with them, the last legitimate Passover, before Jesus was betrayed in the garden by Judas. It's also important to remember that there's no other psalm, as I said before so many times quoted in the New Testament more than this one. You recall that Psalm 118 demands the nations, the Gentiles, to sing praises to God. You'll recall that word that was used in Psalm 118, hallelujah. It's really two words. Hallelujah, praise Yah, God's name cut in half. He was so excited to praise God, he cut his name in half. Hallelujah, praise Yah, or praise Yahweh.

11:18Last week we found in the first 18 verses of Psalm 118 that misery brings confidence in God's eternal loyal love. Misery brings confidence in God's eternal loyal love. That brings us to where we could just look at the four points from last week so that we're comfortable with where we're heading today. Verses 1 through 4, if you'll remember, that we must confess God's eternal faithfulness before entering misery's crucible. Verses 5 through 9 reveal that we must recognize God's eternal faithfulness while churning in misery's crucible. 10 through 13 tells us that the battle of the enemy, or it tells us to battle the enemy while we're inside misery's crucible. To go on the offensive, he said he's going to cut the enemies off in the name of the Lord, and our battle, our tools, are God's word.

12:09Verses 14 through 18 reminds us to reminisce over God's victory after we've exited this crucible of misery. Let's be reminded again that the nations are surrounding him. They violently shoved him to the ground. As a man, he has every reason in the world to grow hopeless. He's in a helpless situation, and we wouldn't blame him for a nanosecond for just giving it all up, for raising his hands and walking away. But he doesn't do that. And in that, we take courage.

12:39You ever get so exhausted in the trial that you just say, enough, and I'm done. I'm so tired. God, are you really there? Are you really listening to my prayer, Lord? Take comfort. Take courage in this psalmist because he has courage that will blow you away in a few minutes as we look at this text. While he's in the crucible, God doesn't allow him to despair more than he's able, and neither will God allow you to despair more than you're able. It just won't happen.

13:16He comforts and delivers him time and again until finally he reaches verse 18. Let's look at verse 18 just again to set the stage for verse 17. He says, The Lord has disciplined me severely. You recognize those words in your life? The word could be taught. The Lord has taught me severely, but he's not given me over to death. He says, I'm not going to die. Yeah, the nations are surrounding me, but I'm going to live. Yes, the issues of your life are surrounding you. You're not going to die. You're going to live. And even as your physical body goes away, God's love doesn't depart from you for eternity if you are one of his.

14:00Amen. If you're one of his. So by the time he reaches verse 18, he has this confidence that reaches to a point of invincibility. Which brings us to the first reason to thank God so that he receives glory for your salvation. Number one, people must be thankful for knowing the entry requirements to Yahweh's gates of righteousness. It's right there in verses 19 through 20. I want to read verse 19 and point out a few things. He says this.

14:36Picture this in your mind. He's coming to a gate, right? And there's a gatekeeper. He looks at the gatekeeper and he says, Open to me the gates of righteousness. I'll enter through them and I'll give thanks to the Lord. He's pointing at him, you open to me the gates of righteousness. Wow. Who is the me in verse 19? He says, Open to me. The gates of righteousness. You would say it's the writer, it's the psalmist, and you would be correct. But who is the writer of this psalm? We haven't talked about that.

15:10God, ultimately. It's clearly the psalmist. Some think it's Moses, and some think it's Moses for a very good reason. They might be right. He quotes verbatim words that Moses uses. It could be Moses, or it could be just somebody, a king, perhaps, who's quoting Moses. Others think it's David. Still others think it's just one of the kings of Israel who's being attacked. No one really knows the identity of the writer here, and that's okay. But one thing's certain: he fears God, and he is certainly one of those people in the first four verses. Israel?

15:49Maybe one of those who leads worship, but he's certainly one who fears God. Literally, the psalmist confidently looks up at the gatekeeper and he issues him a command. And this is a command. It's an imperative. He says, You open the gates of righteousness. I'm coming in. Why the confidence? What's not clear in verse 19 is whether God's gates of righteousness here are literal or figurative. It certainly paints a picture of what's literal. What is clear is that unbelievers, foreigners, are not allowed, according to Ezekiel 44, they're not allowed to be within God's house. They're forbidden. It's also a known fact in Paul's day that being a Gentile or bringing a Gentile into the temple was still forbidden in Acts chapter 22 and in Acts chapter 24. You could be a recipient of capital punishment if you're a Jewish man bringing a Gentile into the temple. So he can't be a Gentile at this point. Nevertheless, the psalmist, he issues this command to the gatekeeper to open up the gate. Wouldn't you agree that this sounds a little bit presumptuous? Do you really think you have the qualifications to get in, buddy? That's not what the gatekeeper says, but it makes me think that.

17:10Perhaps it's just a little egotistical sounding. Why does he have such unyielding confidence that he has the credentials to enter God's gates of righteousness? What on earth is this man thinking? Could I do that? I die today and I go to heaven and I demand right now, God, let me in. Here's the reason. Here's the reason he's so confident. He's confident because of his ongoing distresses and deliverances. He has passed the test that God has given him. The ongoing distresses, the misery in the crucible. He's confident of salvation from the utter fear and profound comfort that he's received from God all along. It's repetitious. That's why it's so repetitious in this. Psalm with some of the things he says. I want you to observe one more time, really carefully, verse 19. What does it say?

18:09This man's trust is in God's deliverance from the most wretched, heart-wrenching moments of his life, and he's convinced of God's entry requirements into these gates. In fact, he's demanding entrance in verse 19. Verse 19 tells us the reason. Do you see the reason that he wants to get in? Is it so that he can get behind, get away from his abusers, from those who are trying to kill him? Is that the reason? Look at the last part of verse 19.

18:38He says, I shall give thanks to the Lord. We say, God, get me out of this thing. We hear the foxhole prayer and wars, you know, where the guys are in the foxhole and God, I'll do anything you want. Just get me out of this mess. Paul, not Paul, the psalmist was in a foxhole here. And why does he want to get in? Because he wants to praise God. That's his reason. It's a passion. It's a love for God that he expresses. Look, these are tough times. And it's easy to be depressed with what's going on in our world with absolutely no assurance in your ability to serve God with the unyielding confidence of this psalmist. Wouldn't you like to have that in your life? Come. Confidence. Now think about this. Just think about this. Recall the times that the Lord has delivered you from cyclical distress, from troubles, from trials, from misery and pain. You know what?

19:45He's going to do it again. Take confidence in that. He's going to do it again. I'm not going to die, the psalmist says. I'm going to live. I'm going to praise God. And when he does, what do you do? You thank him. You thank him. You do a Psalm 117 and you shout out, Hallelujah. Look what God did in this problem in my life. Draw strength from his testimony in your life. Put the focus on him and get about the business of the Lord's work with full assurance that he will lead you to his future success.

20:24He wants you in Psalm 117, too, to tell the nations, the tribes, the continents, and the smallest amount of groups of people about his success in your life, about his loving kindness, about how his love superabundantly prevails toward you. That's our job. Even when we're going through the types of suffering and trials that we read about and heard our pastor preach on this morning in 1 Peter, understand his loving kindness. Now, notice something here about the gatekeeper in verse 1. 20. Glance down at it. The gatekeeper's response details the requirements for the entry through those gates. And I just love his answer here. Do you see it? The gatekeeper looks back at the guy and he says, Hey, this is the gate of the Lord. Literally, this is God's gate. The righteous will enter through it, as if to say, Where's your passport?

21:26How do you know you're righteous? How do you know you're righteous enough to enter God's gate this evening? The gatekeeper, it just fires back. He says, Hey, this is God's gate. Only those who are righteous get to come in. And I can almost picture in my mind's eye, if this was me, the psalmist, I would be like, uh-oh. I forgot my passport. I forgot my identity, don't have my driver's license, don't have my Bible, don't have my registration, a membership at a church to show God that I'm able to get in.

22:07Does the psalmist meet the criteria of the man holding the rope that opens the gate? We would ask. Is he among the righteous who will enter through God's gates of righteousness? In other words, does he have those proper credentials? Will his passport be sufficient identification to get him in? The psalmist wasn't deterred. He Knows the entry requirements into the God's gates of righteousness. Do you? You should. We should. But he had to prove his answer to the gatekeeper. Kind of reminds me of a question that a friend asked me after a long day of water skiing out in Southern California. What a great day. But he asked me while we're in a jacuzzi, he says, What if you were to die today and God were to stand before you, you were to stand before God and he were to say to you, Why should I let you into my heaven? What would you say? I can assure you, I had no clue.

23:09I became very scared at that moment in time as an 18-year-old boy. Look again at verse 20. You ask yourself the question, at least I ask myself the question the first time I look at it, is he giving him a works righteousness requirement for salvation? Is he telling them, Look, were you a good person? Did you walk the old ladies across the street? Did you not cheat on your taxes? Did you pay the poor? Did you feed them? Did you fill in the blank? Were you a member of a good Bible-believing church?

23:46Is this a works-righteousness requirement? Well, no, how could it be? Because such an idea would run contrary to the whole of Scripture, all 66 books. None of them teach that you've got to be a good person to get to heaven. So, what is a righteous person? How does he get through the gate? The psalmist is righteous. Here's why. He's righteous because he loves God and he loves God's precepts and he applies them in his life, which is what the Hebrew word for righteousness is all about. In verse 28, it demonstrates that his righteousness is seen as that which exalts God. Look at verse 28, just a few verses down.

24:25He closes the chapter and he says, You are my God. I give thanks to you. You are my God. I extol you. Wasn't that the reason he wanted to get into the gate? God recognizes that he is one who wants to praise God. I can't think of anybody better than Jesus Himself to define who is considered righteous. Let's turn over to Revelation chapter 22 because he's very clear about who the righteous are in Revelation 22. The Apostle John and Jesus compare the wicked with the righteous, starting in verse 10 of Revelation chapter 22.

25:07Here's the message that John pens, and Jesus chimes in. Verse 10. And he says to me, Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. Let the one who does wrong still do wrong, and the one who is filthy still be filthy. Let the one who is righteous still practice righteousness, and the one who is holy keep himself holy. Jesus says this. In verse 12, behold, he says, Look, I'm coming quickly, and my reward is with me to render to every man according to what he has done. He says, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Blessed are those who wash their robes so that they have the right. They have the right.

25:50They have the right to the tree of life and may enter by the gates of the city. They have the right to come in. That word right in verse 14 is also understood as authority. They have the authority to come in, they have the power to come in. From a New Testament perspective, the righteous are those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ. They've repented of their sin, as evidenced by their coming before the Lord and saying, God, I have wronged you, and I'm turning from this, and I trust in Christ.

26:35That's the righteous. That's who the righteous is. Back in Psalm 118, verses 19 through 20. Turn back there with me. Verses 19 through 20, we see the psalmist had the proper credentials, he had the proper passes figuratively strung around his neck. For immediate entry through God's gates of righteousness, the only people capable of entering this gate are those who are recognized with their active involvement in praising God. We saw it in Psalm 118, hallelujah, thanking him for his everlasting loyal love. Notice what happens next in verse 21.

27:19He says this: He says, I shall give thanks to you, for you have answered me, and you have become my salvation. The gate comes up, he goes in, he looks back at the gatekeeper, and he says, Thank you. You have become my salvation. You've answered my request. You let me in. The you in verse 21 could appear to some in the English Bibles that this you is referring to God himself. It doesn't refer to God, it refers to the gatekeeper. The gatekeeper let him in. Figuratively speaking, I think we could say, from an eternal perspective, it certainly speaks of God.

27:57So, the psalmist, what has he done here? He's cut off the distresses and the violence of those of his enemies. They're on the other side of the gate, the other side of the gates of righteousness. They can't get in, and he's safe. He's very safe. I'm going to tell you a true story about my beautiful bride before she was my beautiful bride. She was walking into her apartment one day. She parked her car at Cal State University Northridge, near Cal State University, Northridge.

28:29And. She sees this guy across the street running towards her at full tilt, casting filthy language at her. She's got her key in her hand. She slides it into the security lock on the door of this huge apartment complex, turns the key, turns the knob, walks in, slams the door shut, it's locked, and the guy is wiggling the handle, yelling obscenities at her. She had the key. She turned a lock. She could get in. She had what it takes to get in. He did not. He could not get in.

29:04The psalmist was righteous because he loves God. He can get in, and those outside the gate could not get in. You say, well, how does all this apply to me? Where is this in my life? You see, this gives believers great confidence. Believers have great confidence here because you can be certain that you are considered righteous because of your simple love for Christ. You can be considered righteous because you praise God for his everlasting, loyal love, and eternal faithfulness. So really, in times of fear and uncertainty, you need to ask yourselves, what steps am I willing to take to exude the confidence of this psalmist? Let me in.

29:51That's confidence. Does my passport identify me as one of whom God would say, she's righteous? Righteous. Come on in. This brings us to the second reason to continually thank God so that he receives the glory for your salvation. So here it is. People must be thankful to God for showing them, you, his marvelous salvation. We see that in verses 22 through 29. And what happens in verses 22 through 27 really demonstrates God's everlasting love that we've heard so much about. Let's see a demonstration of it. We see his loving loyalty, his steadfast love for his people that leads us to thankfulness for showing his marvelous deliverance. Verse 22.

30:41Let's read it. Follow along with me. He says, The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. How many times have you heard that verse in your life? If you've been around church for a while, you've heard that. You've read it if you read the New Testament. And I stand before you to say that this is a common Hebrew proverb. It's in many ancient Hebrew documents of old. To the Hebrew ear, that word builders in verse 22 also means architects. It means royal architects. These weren't, you know, some guys who had a hammer and a chisel and just decided to bang on some rocks someday. These guys knew what they were doing. They were world-class builders. They knew their building materials very well. They were the ones that you would want to work on your house to keep you safe. Except, of course, the eternal importance of a particular stone they didn't pick up on. They examined this stone. Oh, they looked at it, and they still rejected it. Picture it this way: the royal architects were looking for a stone upon probably which to build the temple at this point. Out of all the possible stones that they could have chosen, they kept tripping over this particular one, the one most suited for the job. In fact, the psalmist tells us that they rejected this stone. And that word rejected is a great word. It's a great descriptive word in Numbers 11, 20.

32:14Yahweh uses the same word about the Israelites in Numbers 11, 20 when the people grumbled for lack of meat. So God gives them water, He gives them food, gives them this meat, and they grumble about it. You recall that Yahweh, God, judged them for what? For rejecting him. They'd rather have a different kind of food, a different kind of water than what God was giving, and so they rejected God, much like this stone was rejected. Verse 23 tells us that God, he overrules these hoity-toity architects, these rock finders, and he chooses this particular stone as the most significant stone for the building.

32:55Watch how the people respond to the Lord's choosing of this magnificent stone. They marveled. They marveled at it. Verse 23. Think of that word marvel. It means wonder. It means distinguished. I had somebody forward to me a clip on an email about a YouTube clip from a show about a guy named Jonathan from the show Britain's Got Talent. Maybe you've seen this. This guy, Jonathan, he enters the stage on this big talent competition, 17 years old. He enters the stage, and everybody notices his appearance, this young man, and dismisses him very quickly as a failure, even before he can open his mouth. His curly hair descends past his waist.

33:49His weight is easily 250 pounds over probably what it should be. His chin dangles over his chest. The judges are heard saying immediately, quote, just when you think things couldn't get any worse, sing. The kid could hardly talk. He was so nervous. Jonathan is what this stone looked like to the builders. Absolutely ridiculous on this stage. And as the music started, Jonathan's marvelous, wonderful, distinguished voice fills the opera hall, and immediately the audience leaps to their feet. The judges leap to their feet, and they can't contain themselves. They're so excited about this kid's voice. They are standing ovation within the first three or four words. When it was all over, the judges described what they heard, saying words like this: world class.

34:44You have an outstandingly good voice. You are a future star. They could have dismissed him before he started singing. They could have tripped over him like the rock that the architects tripped over. You know what? If Jonathan's experience could be put to an ancient proverb, the proverb might sound something like this: Jonathan is like a stone the builders rejected, yet he became the chief cornerstone upon which the producers made gobs of money. And I'm sure they did. You know what? Several hundred years after Psalm 118, 22, perhaps maybe even a thousand years, we're not quite sure.

35:24This proverb was used again, only this time Jesus himself quoted this proverb as to refer to himself as the stone rejected by the religious leaders of the day, those architecturally building their serious, excuse their silly religion. Turn over to Matthew chapter 21, and let's take a look at how Jesus uses this quote from Psalm chapter 18, Matthew 21. I'm going to start off in verse 40 here in a moment. So, what's going on in the context here? Let me see if I can put it into context before we read it. Jesus was told a parable of the landowner. You'd recall this if you've spent some time in the parables. The landowner, if you'll recall, is likened to God, and those renting the land are likened to the religious leaders of the day. When the landowner sent his slaves and his own son to collect his portion of the earnings from his own land that he rented out, the renters beat some of the people and killed others, even his own son. Those beaten and killed are likened to God's prophets and to Jesus. Take a look at Matthew 21, verses 40 through 41.

36:40It says this: Therefore, when the landowner, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine growers? He's asking the religious leaders, what will he do to them? Religious leaders respond, and they said to him, He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and will rent out the vineyard to other vine growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper season. And Jesus said to them, the religious leaders, Did you never read the scriptures? Okay, shock of shocks. They repeated this chapter 18 times a year. Jesus is going to repeat it again for them. Here it is. The stone which the builders rejected became the chief cornerstone. They should have been saying this along with him without even looking at their Bibles. This came about from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes. He quotes Psalms. Psalm 118. They sang this song so many times over and over again.

37:37In verse 41, the religious leaders pronounce judgment on the renters, which sets the stage for verse 42. We just read it. The fame of these passages is a great help to understanding what Jesus meant when he asked the religious leaders the question: Did you ever read the scriptures? This is not a question for Jesus to get information. It's an indictment against them. It's like a gavel that hits the bench. He says, You've read it, you're guilty. It's an indictment because these men would have chanted it 18 times a year. They knew it by heart. Even Jesus' mother knew it by heart as she quoted it in the New Testament. There's coming a day when the peoples of the world will hear Jesus ask, Did you ever read John 3:16?

38:35Did you never watch Tim Tebow? 316? Did you never see the crazy guy with the funny hair behind home plate? 3.16? And he's going to say, I never knew you. Depart from me. I want to see this passage in a structure that we could read in a way that the Would have understood it. He says, All you who are building, rejected. In other words, all you who are building right now, you've already rejected me. Even as he speaks, they're rejecting him.

39:12That word rejected is more than meets the eye. It means rejected after much scrutiny, after careful examination. To declare useless is what it means. It's to declare unfit for the job. Oh, they looked at it, they just didn't mosey over it and trip on it, and not because they didn't see it. You would say, oops, for the architects, unlike the stones which could have been used to build the temple, Jesus wants these hoity-toity religious leaders to see that they are rejecting him as their Messiah. Check out verse 43. Take a look at verse 43. Now, Jesus follows, Jesus' line of reasoning with the religious leaders here. He says, Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to another people, producing the fruit of it.

40:07He says, I'm taking the kingdom away from you. I'm going to give it to people who will produce the fruit of the kingdom. The word therefore, the word therefore points all the way back to the religious leaders, how the religious leaders described to Jesus the capital punishment due to the vine growers for killing those sent to them. Remember, they said to Jesus they ought to be done away with. And in essence, Jesus told the religious leaders that their sentence of punishment for the vine growers is what they themselves deserve for rejecting Jesus Christ as their Savior, the chief cornerstone of their salvation.

40:44The kingdom of God will be taken away from them, but given to another people. Literally, the Gentiles, not just any Gentile people, but people who have repented of their sin and have believed in Christ. Those who produce the kingdom fruit. Rather than being thankful for Jesus showing them his salvation, verses 45 through 46 tells us the religious leaders figured out that Jesus was talking about them in the parable. They go, hmm, he's talking about us. And so they came up with an ingenious plan. They want to kill him. They didn't like what he said. So they wanted to arrest him and kill him. Their desire was to seize Jesus as a clear demonstration that the builders, the religious leaders, were passionately in the process of rejecting the Messiah, the chief cornerstone of their salvation. They examined him and said, no, this ain't the guy.

41:42Picture this with me. Let's thrust them back to Psalm 118. Can you just see unbelieving Israel standing outside of God's gates of righteousness, crying out the words of the psalmist in verse 19, You open to me the gates of righteousness, and having the same attitude that The righteous had? Can you hear the gatekeeper's response to them? To the unbelieving as they expectantly await the gatekeeper to open Yahweh's gate? Instead, notice what the gatekeeper tells them. This is God's gate. The righteous will enter through it.

42:20Almost to say, Let me see your passport, fellas. Immediately, they remember Jesus telling them that the kingdom of God would be removed from them and given to a nation producing the fruit of it, and they are not allowed in. Eventually, their religious leaders completed their mission. Just like Jesus said they would. In John 2:19, three years before his death, Jesus points to them and he says, You destroy this temple, and in three days, I'll raise it up again. Three years later, he raises up again. Peter's words in that section of scripture has a bone-chilling effect in Acts on these men when they said to him, Peter says to them, Therefore, let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made him Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.

43:19Turn back again to Acts 118, excuse me, Psalm 118. Take a look at verse 26 and 27. He says, Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. We have blessed you from the house of the Lord. The Lord is God. He has given us light. Bind the festival sacrifice with the cords to the horns of the altar. This is what the religious leaders should have done. They should have blessed him. Because the religious leaders don't have the proper credentials to enter Yahweh's gate. They can't go in to the gates of righteousness like the psalmist. They can't bless God's name because they don't see his light. They can't have a festival sacrifice because they've rejected the chief cornerstone of their salvation. The Messiah, God is not their God, so they can't get inside the gate and extall him and thank him and praise him.

44:20They may never enjoy God's eternal loyal love because they've murdered a son. I say may, may not, because we know in Acts chapter 2 that some of those ones who crucified Jesus because it says they did became Christians at the preaching of the gospel. You say to yourself, you don't know how bad I've blown it in my lifetime. God doesn't want me. And I would say to you, you don't know how bad some of the people in the Bible were before God called them to preach his message, to live for his glory.

45:03God forgave some of the people that crucified his own son. We're going to see some of those in heaven. I want you to watch how Psalm 118:25 plays out very carefully. You see here more repetition. This time it's in the form of a prayer in verse 25. It says these words: O Lord, do save, we beseech you, O Lord, we beseech you, do send prosperity. The Hebrew word here that's used is a please do save, not just a do save, but a please do save. Believe it or not, this prayer is a command with a please inserted into it. The word save, you'll recognize the word save here. You know this Hebrew word. It's the word Hosanna. Wow. They said, Hosanna, save us. You recall that while Jesus was entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, they greeted him with a particular word. What was it? Hosanna.

46:08Today, we should have a sense of profound gratefulness to God, who, according to verse 27, by the way, Yahweh is God. We must have our hearts filled with gladness to him for demonstrating his marvelous salvation. Can you identify with this psalmist? Do you ever feel like you? You've experienced some of the things he's gone through, but maybe you lack the confidence that he had. Are you about to enter misery's crucible? Are you in it now? Have you just come out?

46:47You're either one of those or you're about to go in. Just remember the first four verses. He's thanking God for his goodness, for his everlasting loving kindness. So, in all this turmoil, we can have confidence in the chief cornerstone of our salvation. Don't reject him. We should be able to say, along with the psalmist, God, you are my God, and I will give you thanks, and I will exalt you. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his loving-kindness is everlasting. Amen? Amen.

47:22Here's my challenge. My challenge is to be resolved, to continually give thanks to God for his everlasting loyal love before, during, and after misery's crucible, just like the psalmist, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his loving kindness is everlasting. I'm going to close with a word of prayer. And I just asked Pat this morning if he would bring the worship team back up and close our service tonight with the song that he closed this morning. Morning service with, and I'm so glad that he agreed to it. Let's close in prayer, and then when the song is done, let's just greet each other in the name of the Lord, and we'll be dismissed for the evening after that music. Father, this has been a great summer in the Psalms to look at your godly one. We don't even know his name, but we so identify with what's going on in his life.

48:30We so easily see that you moved in his life. You moved in his life to be one who is thankful for your endless loving kindness. You protected him, you showed him how to get through the gates of righteousness. You gave him the confidence that he could indeed go in, not confidence of his own, but confidence in you and what you'd done for him. And Lord, we should have that same confidence when we know that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and that he is the chief cornerstone of our salvation. There is no other stone but him.

49:13Let us examine you through your word. Let us come to the conclusion that you're the only way. This is exclusivity at its best. Lord, you are the only way. We cannot reject you and hope to get away with it. And we want to trust you more because we want to, like the psalmist, get on the other side of the gate so we can praise your name, so we can thank you. And so, tonight, we look back at this whole psalm and we say, Thank you, Lord, for showing me how a godly man made it through. You're showing us how men and women and children can make it through when we depend on you, Father, for your glory and for your sake alone. In Christ's name, we pray. Amen.