SOMETHING WORTH CELEBRATING
Psalm 118:1-29
S: Palm Sunday
Th: Praise
Pr: GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD!
?: Why?
KW: Explanations
TS: We will find in Psalm 118 three explanations of why we should give thanks to the Lord.
The _____ explanations of why we should give thanks to the Lord is His…
I. PERSEVERANCE (1-4)
II. PRESENCE (5-18)
III. PRESERVATION (19-28)
RMBC 24 March 02 AM
INTRODUCTION:
ILL Thanksgiving (in tomato sauce)
Bob was trying to teach his daughter, Jenny, how to say grace before meals. After a few weeks of coaching, Bob decided Jenny was ready to say grace all by herself. Jenny started out fine, thanking God for her mommy and daddy and brother and sister and for the rolls and the salad, etc. She ended with a big, "Thank you, God, for the spaghetti!" and lifted her head. The tradition in Bob’s house, though, was to end each prayer with "In Jesus’ name, Amen." So Bob prompted Jenny, "In ..." At first, Jenny seemed confused. Then she proudly exclaimed, "In tomato sauce. Amen."
Are you a grateful person?
The simple act of saying grace before a meal is an act of gratefulness.
And God does understand our heart, even if we don’t say “In Jesus’ name” at the end of the prayer.
God looks at our heart.
He knows when our praise and gratefulness come from hearts that love Him.
TRANSITION:
1. Today is Palm Sunday in which we remember the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.
Palm Sunday begins the most significant week on the Christian calendar—Holy Week.
It is during this week that Jesus…
…will clear out the Temple for a second time
…will wash His disciples feet
…will eat a Passover meal with them and institute what we call Communion
…will be betrayed by Judas, and denied by Peter
…will go to the cross
…and most importantly, raise from the dead.
This will all happen in one week.
It begins with this one particular event that we have sung and read about today.
It was a special day when the people of Jerusalem demonstrated their praise and gratefulness for God’s work in their midst.
2. It was a time of celebration because it was recognized that God was bringing salvation.
They rejoiced in Jesus’ coming.
They saw Him as bringing salvation and most probably understood it as a salvation that involved a freedom from Rome.
During this triumphal entry, the people used one particular word that is equated with this day, “Hosanna.”
It literally means, “Save us.”
But through the years, it was understood as an exclamation of praise that God was continually providing salvation.
I want to return to the context of this word, Hosanna.
It is originally found in Psalm 118 and it is this psalm that we are studying today.
The main point of this text is both at its beginning and its end.
It is simply…
3. GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD!
But why?
Why do we give thanks to the Lord?
Well…
4. We will find in Psalm 118 three explanations of why we should give thanks to the Lord.
OUR STUDY:
I. The first explanation of why we should give thanks to the Lord is His PERSEVERANCE (1-4).
ILL Notebook: Perseverance: (hates to lose his ball)
Robert Maschi’s job as a land surveyor took him to a golf course that was expanding to 18 holes. Using a machete to clear thick brush in an area he was mapping, he came upon a golf club that an irate player must have tossed away. It was in good condition, so he picked it up and continued on. When he broke out of the brush onto a putting green, two golfers stared at him in awe. He had a machete in one hand, a golf club in the other, and behind him was a clear-cut swath over 100 yards long. “There,” said one of the golfers, “is a guy who hates to lose his ball!”
Well, if you think that is perseverance, listen to this…
[1] Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!
[2] Let Israel say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”
[3] Let the house of Aaron say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”
[4] Let those who fear the Lord say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”
Please note this…
God is single-minded about His love for us.
There is an irrepressible endurance to God’s love and mercy.
It is His promise to us.
When the best of the earth fails and passes away, we are to know that we can always count on the love and mercy of the Lord.
It simply does not change.
It endures forever.
Note also that the psalmist says that he cannot sufficiently express all this by Himself.
There is so much to be thankful about, that it is a discipline that we all need to do.
So he says, “Let the people of Israel” say it.
Let the spiritual leaders say it…
Let those who fear God—the believing Gentiles—say it…
God’s love endures forever!
II. The second explanation of why we should give thanks to the Lord is His PRESENCE (5-18).
[5] Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free.
[6] The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?
[7] The Lord is on my side as my helper; I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.
[8] It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.
[9] It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.
[10] All nations surrounded me; in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
[11] They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side; in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
[12] They surrounded me like bees; they went out like a fire among thorns; in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
[13] I was pushed hard, so that I was falling, but the Lord helped me.
[14] The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.
[15] Glad songs of salvation are in the tents of the righteous: “The right hand of the Lord does valiantly,
[16] the right hand of the Lord exalts, the right hand of the Lord does valiantly!”
[17] I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord.
[18] The Lord has disciplined me severely, but he has not given me over to death.
The psalmist is describing a great distress.
Literally, it means “a tight place.”
He was in trouble.
But as he prayed, he discovered an important and eternal truth.
1. God is “Immanuel.”
God is the with-us God.
No matter how bad it seems, God hears.
No matter how bad it is going, God is present.
The Lord is on our side!
You see…
2. God is worth trusting.
The psalmist wants us to see that it is better to trust the Lord than to put confidence in any human source.
He then uses pictures to describe to us the trouble he was in.
His enemies surrounded him, swarmed him like bees.
It was a furious hostility that was like the crackle of a surrounding fire.
But what he discovered is that the power of evil turns out to be as short-lived as it is fierce.
For the Lord’s name is sufficiently powerful.
He has the power to save, bring judgment on His adversaries, as well as bring help to His children.
When we trust in Him, He sets us free, and we sing a victory song!
But getting to that victory song is not easy.
ILL Notebook: Discipline (Youth or Consequences)
When a friend asked his six-year-old brother why babies are spanked when they are born, the youngster replied, "To get them used to it."
Well, discipline is something we do need to get used to.
For we all need correction.
So…
3. Even God’s discipline is to be celebrated.
The psalmist recognizes God’s painful and tough love.
But it was a love that he needed to have.
The discipline was so severe that it was almost to the point of death.
God does bring discipline into our lives though to make us stronger—to learn grace under fire.
And as a result, the psalmist shares an invaluable lesson.
We do not die.
We live!
ILL Testimony: Jesse Pohle
I am inviting Jesse Pohle to come now and share his testimony.
He has been learning some important lessons about trust this year.
III. The third explanation of why we should give thanks to the Lord is His PRESERVATION (19-28).
[19] Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.
[20] This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it.
[21] I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.
[22] The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
[23] This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
[24] This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
[25] Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success!
[26] Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord.
[27] The Lord is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar!
[28] You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you.
There is a lesson here that must never be lost to us…
1. It is God that saves.
The psalmist is able to identify a common theme.
The Lord is salvation.
He preserves His people.
And just as He worked in old, He works now.
There is continuity.
But what must not be lost here is that man needs God’s salvation.
He cannot save himself.
He is absolutely lost in sin and unbelief.
ILL Notebook: Cornerstone
This passage reminds us of the occasion of the building of Solomon’s temple. When King Solomon built the temple on the place where the Dome of the Rock now stands in Jerusalem, there was no sound of hammer or saws and or pounding of any kind. The Temple was erected in silence. The rocks that formed the Temple were taken from a quarry below where the temple stands. The temple was built from Solomon’s quarries. It was built to such exacting blueprint dimensions that each rock was shaped perfectly before it ever left the quarry. When it arrived at the temple, it would fit perfectly in its proper place.
According to Jewish tradition a huge rock was quarried and shaped to the exacting dimensions and sent to the temple. When it arrived at the temple site the builders could find no place to use it. It didn’t seem to match any of their blueprints, so they placed it to one side. Some time passed and it was always getting in the way so workers pushed it over the edge of the bank and it rolled down into the Kidron Valley and was lost. However, when time came to hoist the cornerstone into place, the great rock that held everything in place, could not be found. The builders sent word to the quarry that they were ready for the cornerstone. The masons sent word back that cornerstone had already been delivered. Then someone remembered the huge "extra" rock that had been pushed over the cliff. When the workers retrieved the stone and hoisted it into place it fit perfectly as the cornerstone of the temple.
This historical example demonstrates that…
2. God uses the rejected to accomplish His will.
While we could site several examples, the preeminent one is Jesus Himself.
He suffered supreme rejection and humiliation.
Note how this is described in Acts 4:8-12:
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
Jesus enters into Jerusalem triumphantly.
But that happy time was short-lived.
Jesus was reviled, insulted, rejected and crucified by the leaders of the nation of Israel.
Yet, the ultimate victory and glory belonged to Jesus.
For what on one day looks like a negative, turns out in the light of another day, to be a positive.
So, let us remember, again, salvation is God’s work.
This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.
So…Hosanna!
Save us, we pray, O Lord!
And He does.
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.
But let it also be known that just as the last phrase was used of Jesus, it is also to be used of us as well.
For…
3. God designs us to reflect His light.
When we come in the name of the Lord, there is a blessing for us.
We exist and we are protected by His light.
It shines upon us.
And it shines through us.
For we declare God as He is.
And we are to give thanks to God for His marvelous work in our lives.
APPLICATION:
ILL Notebook: Prayer (clears worship place)
A new church was ready to begin holding public worship services in Rochester. All of the preliminary church planting steps had been taken, yet one problem remained – the worship location.
The only space they could find was an old mansion housing a New Age bookstore, a spiritualist congregation, and a live-in Buddha.
The new pastor saw a huge problem, but the district supervisor didn’t. “Don’t worry! I know just what to do,” he said.
As the church began worship services, the district supervisor called three colleagues in three African countries. The pastors there gathered thousands to pray for the church in Rochester.
It was soon reported that the Buddha was getting bad karma and moved out. The spiritualists said they were disturbed and needed to relocate. And the New Age bookstore left because it was losing customers who came to shop but stayed to worship in the new church.
The church is thriving today – all because of prayer!
The psalmist says…
[29] Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!
You know, our world is so full of so many things that are not good.
The events of 9/11 were not good.
The spreading of anthrax is not good.
The murder of innocent human beings is not good.
The mayhem in the Middle East is not good.
But I do want to assure you of this…God is good.
And…
1. God is good to you (I Peter 2:4-5)!
Please note this…that no matter what happens to us that is not good, it does not change God’s goodness.
It does not change God’s goodness to us.
Note how the apostle Peter describes it…
As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
We are precious in the sight of God.
And we should be thankful.
It should come flowing right out of us.
This is why I encourage you this week to slow down and recognize how good God is to you.
Take advantage of our special times of worship.
For this is a time to be meditative.
This is a time to be reflective.
This is a time to be appreciative.
And in so doing, recognize that…
2. God leads us to victory (II Corinthians 2:14)!
Paul tells us…
But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.
We can be a member of the triumphal procession only because of Good Friday.
But remember…
The Good Fridays of life are always followed by Resurrection Sundays.
This is where the victory is.
This is where our salvation is ultimately won.
And this is why we give thanks—for His steadfast love endures forever!
BENEDICTION: [Counselors are ]
Give thanks to the Lord…for He is so single-minded about us; He wants us to know Him and be in His kingdom forever; so His love perseveres, drawing us daily to be His.
Give thanks to the Lord…for He is with us, no matter how bad it seems or how bad it is going, the Lord is on our side and He is worth trusting.
Give thanks to the Lord…for His saves us and preserves us forever; for the stone that was rejected became the cornerstone of our faith and there is salvation in no one else; only in the name of Jesus.
Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
