Sunday 08 • 19 • 18

Good morning, CTK. Psalm 118:

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. Let Israel say his steadfast love endures forever. Let the house of Aaron say, his steadfast love endures forever. Let those who fear the Lord say, his steadfast love endures forever. Out of my distress, I called on the Lord. The Lord answered me and set me free. The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me? The Lord is on my side as my helper. I shall look in triumph 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. All nations surrounded me. In the name of the Lord, I cut them off. They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side. In the name of the Lord, I cut them off. They surrounded me like bees. They went out like a fire among thorns. In the name of the Lord, I cut them off. I was pushed hard so that I was falling, but the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation. Glad songs of salvation are in the tents of the righteous. The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. The right hand of the Lord exalts. The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. I shall not die but I shall live and recount the deeds 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 that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord. The righteous shall enter through it. I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Save us, we pray, O Lord. O Lord, we pray, give us success. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord. 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. You are my God and I will give thanks to you. You are my God; I will extol you. Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. For his steadfast love endures forever. — Psalm 118

The Word of the Lord.

Good morning, Christ the King. Good morning. Man, I'm glad to be here one more time. I'm excited to be here to speak to you from the Word of God. Again, my name is Chris Cooper. I am North Carolina Central's campus minister for RUF. We're going into our second year—go Eagles—and I am excited about being there. I want to thank you for your support, your prayers, and Pastor Jeff, and all of you here. I know you've been praying for me in so many different ways.

I just want to give you an update. My wife is down here with me now. She was away from me for a year, and I'm super excited about that. I missed her. Husbands, I know you can relate to this—I don't know what I would do without my wife. I'd be struggling. So I'm glad she's here. And also, I'm grateful for the prayers. Things are going well on campus, and if you would like to hear more about it, just come see me after service and I'll tell you.

But let me get to the Word of God, because that's what I'm here for. Before I get started, let us pray real quick.

Father God, we're grateful that you allowed us to wake up this morning and see the clouds, the bright sunshine, have the activity of our limbs. We are so grateful that we can fellowship in this place together as your children. Holy Spirit, do the job you are designed to do within the Scripture. Lead us and guide us into all truth. Convict us when we're walking off the beaten path. Please be a light and a lamp unto us as we walk this Christian walk. Soften the hearts of men and lay the seed of the Word firmly rooted in our hearts so that roots may grow and that we may become a tree—not for our glory, Father God, but for your glory alone. We love you and we need you. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.

The Nature of Psalm 118

As we get into the Scripture, Psalms 118, I know y'all have been doing a series about seeing Jesus through the Psalms. In this particular Psalm, this is actually kind of a war cry, a battle cry of victory after it happens. They attribute this Psalm to David, but they're not actually sure that it is him. One of the things I like about this Psalm is that it is a Psalm of call and response.

Now, I grew up in the African American church with call and response. If you say something, people are like, "Hallelujah, Pastor." And they kind of just tell you, they're loving on you, you're loving on them, and you're excited together. So here, the Psalmist—who would be the king—is actually speaking with excitement to the nation after a victory, and the nation is kind of saying things back. And while doing this, he speaks of God's enduring love, his mercy.

He speaks of Him as their help as you go through the scripture, and being on their side. He speaks to them about being their refuge. He's the one who delivered us. And then it goes on and says, because of you, we have life and we have life to keep going. We got this victory even though we may have some losses.

And then when it gets to the nineteenth verse, it speaks of: only the righteous can walk into this holy place. And then he said, when I got into this holy place, I was basically amazed. We all know Jesus is the only way we can get into the gates. So there's great excitement in this Psalm. There's great victorious praise in this Psalm.

And where I would like to go is get into that twenty-first verse, which lets us know: he answered me. He heard my cry. And when he heard my cry, he becomes our salvation. In this particular moment, in the context, the cry was probably for victory in the war. The cry was probably, "Father, I don't know if we can do it, but guess what? You saved us. You became our salvation."

Now, in my own personal walk, it was a time where I had no place to go. And guess what? It was a time I had to cry to God, and he showed up and he saved us. He said, you are my salvation. The only way I can walk into the gates of righteousness, the only way that you can help me, the only way that shows me that you are steadfast in your love and merciful towards me is that you are my salvation. You showed up when I needed you the most, Father. You showed up when I needed you at the right time.

And he tells him, look—after we talk about this thing, he said: the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

The Rejected Stone

Now, the nation was God's covenant people, and the king was a representation of who God was. They came from the lineage of David, and within that lineage, that dynasty will never be cut off, because we understand that Jesus comes from that lineage. As His covenant people, there were nations out there who rejected the power of God.

So at this moment, during this Psalm, he's basically saying that nations rejected you and your power, but with your covenant people, the same people that they rejected became the cornerstone. They tripped over it. But the Psalm is clearly foreshadowing and talking about a man who embodies the nation, who embodies the covenant. It's talking about Jesus Christ. It's talking about an individual who many rejected—whether it was politicians at the time, whether it was his own people, you could say the Pharisees, the Essenes, the Sadducees. I call them the Cs. All the Cs of the time. And it was all the individuals who were actually educated in the law. It was his covenant people who saw him, and all they wanted to do was reject him. They rejected Jesus Christ.

Not only did they reject him, but the Gentiles—the ones who probably knew of him, who heard about this man named Jesus—they didn't take him seriously either because it wasn't time for them to know. So the same man named Jesus Christ who came, who became our salvation, the same man who suffered, died on the cross, and was rejected is the same man who becomes the chief cornerstone.

You probably wonder: what is a cornerstone? Well, if you look back at that time, a cornerstone is actually the biggest piece of stone which is usually placed in the corner of a particular building that brings the walls together. And not only does it bring the walls together, but actually all the weight is put on these cornerstones to hold the foundation up. I think that's amazing. If that doesn't describe Jesus, I don't know what does.

So he utilizes this phrase in the Gospels so many times. He utilizes this phrase in a particular example which is talking about the workers and the tenants.

This can be found in Saint Luke 17:20 and also Matthew 21:42.

In this particular example, you have the workers—the individuals who are tilling the land. And the master goes away and he brings those who come to basically supervise those tilling the land. And the people who he brings to supervise the land, they just go against them and they kill them.

Now, the first one clearly talks about the prophets. The prophets come and talk about Jesus Christ. They come and talk about the ways of the Lord. But guess what? God's people just ignore them and they kill them off and they don't pay them no mind.

They reject him and then it progresses and talks about another individual who many people refer to as John the Baptist. When he comes, they reject him even though he says, "The kingdom of God is soon at hand." Then he tells his own son to come and set order within those who are working the land. They defy the land and slaughter the son. Eventually, the master will come and judge them, and within this judgment, they will trip over the cornerstone.

Clearly, the son is in reference to Jesus Christ. Not only did they reject him, but what did they do? They slaughtered him. They put him on a cross and he took death, hell, and the grave. He rose again and sits on the right hand of God the Father Almighty. He stands in our place and in standing in our place, he has become the chief cornerstone.

Because he has become the chief cornerstone in our lives, we can be thankful and grateful at the fact that he connects it all. Romans lets us know that Jew and Gentile becomes a part of his covenant, which means the two walls that were once separated or broken down are now glued together. Different ethnicities, different cultures, different races—those who are elect by God are held up and joined together because he is the chief cornerstone of us all.

Not only does he hold it all together, but he carries the weight of our sin, our shame, what we're afraid of, what we're fearful of. By the cross, he holds that foundation together and says, "You can come through the gates. You can come through the gates." That's amazing. He justifies by his free grace. He adopts us, all of us, no matter who we are, no matter where we come from. We partake of the benefits that he's given to us by the cross. He's holding it all together, just as it says in Colossians that all things are run through him. He reconciles it all together, and we can be excited about that like they are excited in Psalm 118 at this given moment.

God's Sovereignty in the Plan of Salvation

After he gets past being the chief cornerstone, verse 23 lets us know:

This is the Lord's doing — Psalm 118:23

It's not man. There's one thing I learned about man. We know this is the Lord's doing because if man has a plan and we all agree, most of us buy into the plan. We say, "I like this plan." We discussed it. We broke it down. What are the negatives? What are the pros? What are the cons? And then we say, "Let's go for it. So everybody is on board."

You want to know how no man didn't come up with the plan of salvation? Because once Jesus came, nobody liked him. No matter how much he talks, no matter how much he made sense, no matter how much he taught us and gave us wisdom—"Well, I see his miracles, but I don't really like this dude." And knowing he comes from the covenant that God made to us, people still say, "I don't really go forth with this dude. Matter of fact, let's bring him up on charges. Let's put him on the cross."

Obviously, man didn't make this plan because nobody bought in. But I'm glad that God is sovereign and he controls everything. In that time, when Adam partook of the fruit and we were in total depravity, he came with a plan—which was his son. He knew individuals were going to reject him for his glory. He knew his son would have to go through major suffering for his glory. He knew he had to die on a cross for his glory. He knew he had to say, "Father, why have thou forsaken me?" to save the people he elected. He knew he had to go in the grave and be raised again. He knew that not only was that supposed to happen, but his blood would cover us. He knew those things even though we were blind. He loved us that much. He loved us that much.

I don't know about you. I love a lot of people. But would I die for you? I'd die for my wife and kids. But many times when you start going down the list, you're like, "I mean, my kids need me. Let me think about this. My wife, you know, I can't leave her here alone." I always laugh. What if God told you, "Yes, you will"? You'd still be like, "Oh Jesus, forgive me. Forgive my heart. Help me with my unbelief."

We had nothing to do with it. It was all according to God's plan, and I'm grateful every day that he loved us that much. That's why we can go back to the beginning and say, "We'll praise him for his steadfast love." Steadfast means continual. It keeps going. He loved us that much that he pulled us out from where we were, became the chief cornerstone, becomes the foundation of our lives, and we can love each other with the love of Jesus Christ.

As you get to verse 24, the last one, it goes on to say:

This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. — Psalm 118:24

Now, where I come from, we sing a song and be like, "This is the day. This is the day that the Lord..."

It's a mantra. Hallelujah. It's there. But in this context in Psalms, a lot of times this is reference to victory. It is speaking of gratitude for this day that just happened, that he had it in his hands, that he had it all in his control, and that he loves us and that he's our refuge.

So this day, I will rejoice. I will be glad in it. And then this is sometimes referenced when he comes in and they're saying, "Hosanna, Hosanna." As you read Psalm 118 and he's riding on a donkey, they're saying the king is here. This is the day we will rejoice because the king has arrived to save us.

Look, we should wake up every day with a heart of gratitude, humility, and praise towards God. Because every time I wake up, I can say:

This is the day that the Lord has made. I will be glad in it and let us rejoice in it.

Let us rejoice in the fact that by his sovereign will, he loved us enough to be our cornerstone, to be bringing things together, to die on a cross for us. And then you can keep going through Psalm 118—to be our refuge. He's on my side. Who shall I fear? What man shall I fear? Because God has my back.

Matter of fact, I know he loves me steadfastly because yesterday, I probably did something wrong that was not according to his will. You can just keep going and going and going. But when you wake up, you should say with humility, "I will rejoice."

We sang a song today: rejoice and again, I say what? Rejoice. Why? Because the God we serve is an amazing God who loves us beyond what we could ever imagine. And the way God is glorified through Jesus Christ and the fact that he loves us—that he can be still the foundation of our lives, who is holding things together through all the mess that is going on. Guess what? We should be glad that we're able to humble ourselves to serve him through the Spirit given to us and love on people who don't know him, and love on people who might be curious about him, and also have a victorious chant.

Because many times, we have the victory. Because one day, as they said, we'll walk into the righteous gates because we came through the Son and because we're adopted by a holy Father. If you can't get excited about that, I don't know what's going to make you excited.

Jesus as Foundation

So let us look to Psalm 118 and let us see Jesus as the one who upholds our foundation, who brings all races, ethnicities, and all cultures together, who carries the weight of our shame, our fear, our sinfulness. The one through his sovereign will who had a plan for us and still has a plan for us to continually love us when we didn't even agree with the plan.

And even though today he's rejected many times over, we still can wake up and be glad that we're a part of his family. Amen? Amen. Amen.

Prayer

Let us pray. Father God, we're grateful for what you have done. We're humbled at the fact that you are the chief cornerstone and you're the one who holds the walls together and you're the foundation of our lives.

Father God, let us not be so worried about complaining about every little thing or murmuring. Father God, let us rejoice and be glad in the fact that you loved us enough to keep it all together, to make us a part of your family, to bring relationships that we never thought we could have, to have a great joy, to glorify you, and be happy in doing it.

Let us rejoice. Give us strength for each moment that comes, the temptation that we struggle with, Father God. But most of all, let us think about your cross daily and how you partake of the suffering for us and our sin. In Jesus name, amen.