in the life of the faithful. I want you to imagine putting this in American terms. Imagine if three times a year, all the males in the United States of America were invited to come to Washington, DC for a celebration. We couldn't all go, but we all knew we were supposed to go, and many of us went. Well, the faithful went. Those who practiced People who were secular, because there were secular Jews then and now. What's the big deal? I have things going on. So who would it have been who traveled to Israel from the far-flung corners of the Roman Empire? Who had been pious Jews? Who somehow had come to the conclusion that God is actually King of all the earth? And there were particular psalms that everyone would be zeroing in on for this one week, we know as Passion Week. And friends, the psalm that's before us today is the high point, it is the conclusion of this little book called The Great Hallel. I've researched the scholars, scholars are jumped by the temple guard and by Judas himself. So there's a lot going on here. I'm not sure we're all going to follow, but I hope we can all follow as we see this psalm. I'll make this point in just a little bit, but you need to know that to this day, go look up the Great Hallel on Wikipedia, and it had some marvelous even believe in Jews, but rabbinic Jews, as they employ this psalm during Passover week. And this is kind of one of the standard prayers for rabbinic Jews even to this day, and they'll just pray right through Psalm 113 to 118. This is actually a point that we have in common with many other Christians all around the world. So I'm going to read Psalm 118, and then we're going to reflect upon this today, both in terms of his message for us, but also in terms of his place in Book 5 of the Psalter. Today is the vital sermon in this series through the Psalter, as we thought and tried to answer the question, And again, I've done some writing on that. If you haven't gotten one of those brochures in the past, please come talk to me. I'd be happy to give you a copy of what I've written. Let's turn then to Psalm 118. Hear the Word of the Living God. 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. 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 that went out like fire on swords. In the name of the Lord, I cut them off. I was pushed hard so that I was falling. has become my salvation, glad souls 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. 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 duties. It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Here it is. Save us, we pray. Those two phrases. Hosanna, O Lord. O Lord, we pray. Give us success. to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice of the poor up to the horns of the altar. You are my God. The Hebrew language is a little bit weird. I'm grateful that in my youth and also in my seminary training, I had just enough exposure to the Hebrew language to be dangerous. I don't pretend like I'm a Hebrew expert in any stretch of things, but I've put in the title today, the word, the way it appears. speaking in Hebrew today that comes really easily, much more easily than to Americans. But this word has said today is the word, seen this time and time again in the Psalter, that has to have two English words to translate this one Hebrew Hased, translated back as steadfast love, or it could also be his loyal love, endures forever. And then, jump down to verse 29, at the very end of the psalm, it's exactly the same words, O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his Hased endures forever. We come finally today to book number 5 of the Psalter. So again, if you've been keeping track here, this is Psalms 107 through 150. This is the largest of the five books of the Psalter. It's actually a total of 44 Psalms that form this last book of the Psalter. It contains notable collections, including the Psalms of Ascent, and for our purposes today, the great Halel, Psalms 113 to 118. sung by tradition at the feasts of Passover and the Tabernacles. Today, we need to learn the discipline of personal and corporate praise. In particular, my burden today is that you would learn to see ever more clearly over the course of your life and you should sing these really old, weird songs. We're not even sure quite how they're arranged. There will not be much interest. But if you can demonstrate Christ is the heart, the beating, saving heart of the Psalter, I'm persuaded that the songs can actually become a glue that transcend denominationalism, that transcend the schism of 1054 AD between the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, that transcend other huge rifts, including rifts that happened in the Reformation. Because, friends, the thing all Christians have in common is the Bible, and the Bible is about you won't learn more about Jesus. It's that simple. And so today, I want to call you, kind of a concluding echo, I hope, from this series. going to give you some reminders and some tips on how to do that. One example, every time you see the word save or salvation in this psalm, that's the word isu. So like we have hesed, H-S-E, is Y-S-U, is the root word. Salvation is a noun formed So I want to challenge you today to practice relating your exodus from sin to Israel's exodus from Egypt. That's kind of where we're going to land today. Psalm 118 leads us from distress in verse 5 to thanksgiving in verse 29. So the Great Hallel, again, it sounds strange even to say, The way that Psalms 113 and 118 are used is as one, actually two, continuous prayers for the faithful. The Great Kalel, James Boyce writes, was commonly sung by families at the yearly observance of the Passover. At the Passover, two Psalms, so Psalms 113 and 114, were sung before the meal, and four, Psalms 115 and 118, or song after the meal. Since this custom goes back a long way, we can assume these were the songs sung by Jesus and his disciples. these are also called the Egyptian Halal. Click with me to Psalm 114 just to see this. Because the second in the series Although only the second, Psalm 114, speaks directly of the Exodus, the theme is of raising the downtrodden, Psalm 113, a note of corporate praise, Psalm 115, personal thanksgiving, Psalm 116, world vision in Psalm 117, and a festal procession into the presence of God. began in Egypt and will spread to all the nations of the earth." Friends, what was God doing in Egypt? That thing is not just for Israel. That salvation, Yisra'el, is for the nations. The thing that God was accomplishing in the Exodus is the same thing. that He was accomplishing at the cross, which is the same thing that He's accomplishing each and every time, that a heart, a human heart, is regenerated by the saving power and grace of God. Psalm 118 has been a blessing to the true people of God, both Jew and Gentile, throughout the centuries. and I've been trying to review this week by week, Psalm 72 verse 20 probably is an indication that the first two books of the Psalms were written and were even being used before David's death. The temple hadn't even been built yet, but David in his long reign had led the people not only into living righteously in society, books of the Psalter were added. So part of the reason that we have five books is because it seems that the Psalter got longer over time. And as we see these later psalms, many of them are anonymous. As we talked about a couple of weeks ago, some of these may have been written by the singers and the songwriters of the temple some of them even after they had gone into the Babylonian captivity. And I don't pretend that I can prove all of these things, but as I reflected, I'm persuaded that the later you get in the Psalter, the more evidence you see both of a, both of the circumstances, the writers, for example, at the strings of Babylon, we sat and we wept. When they told us, sing the songs of Zion, actually in Book 5. And this is a psalm that very clearly is written at the springs of Babylon. And so we have the Psalter spanning time from 1000 B.C. in the lifetime of David to the late 500s as Israel is in Babylon and then coming back from Babylon. So Book 5 And within that, then, is the great halal, but now turn back to Psalm 118. Because we want to see this psalm as really the climax, the conclusion of this group of psalms. And there's three parts. This psalm divides very neatly into three parts. The first is point one, the exclamation to the Lord's congregation. I want you to notice that both Now there's, it's a complex sentence, but notice that both of them are an exclamation. Thank the Lord because he's good. Then, what you think about is the second for, for he is good. Is the second line, for his steadfast love endures forever, is that another thought or is that the reason? The goodness of God is manifest. It is evident in His steadfast love that endures, not just for today, not just through your youth, not just through this lifetime, but literally forever. Again and again, friends, the Bible is bringing us to confront the reality that our life in this world is temporary. And we need to be spending the days of our life here preparing for eternity. We're going to step through that veil. It's described in the Bible. Death is described as a veil. And we're going to step through that into what? This is where we, you have to make a decision to make. Do you believe that the Bible is actually giving you information from the other side of the veil? If it's just a bunch of people writing down, If the Bible is, in fact, inspired by God, given to us through His apostles and prophets for our betterment and growth in His life, then this exclamation in verses 1 and again in verse 29 become a critical hinge for everything else in this psalm. Oh, give thanks to the Lord. Be grateful, people of Yahweh. He who comes and breaks into your life is the God who is going to sustain you forever. Forever. That, by the way, is the Davidic covenant. The greater son of David will come and he will rule on the throne of David. So notice then in verses 2 through 4 that there are concentric circles that are added. Again, imagine this being sung antiphonally in the temple. You complete the singing all together in verse 1, and then the song leader says, OK, now. And the only people that get to sing verse 2 are biological Israelites. This is the smallest group in the temple. Israel sing then he points to probably the priest up in the front and also all the Levites that are around. They don't have an inheritance. And then, and I imagine this especially in the time of Jesus, let those who are God-fearers, this is the way the Gentiles were described, let those who fear the Lord say, and then the temple erupts as thousands of voices are gathered together in a moment, His steadfast love ignores forever. It's for a national group of people. It's for a people that were centered on that literal temple in literal Jerusalem. But it's also for the God-hearers among the nations who know and believe that His steadfast love endures forever. This link brings us then to the second part of this psalm. And you should know that the second and third part, the thing that distinguishes Whether it's talking about I or whether it's talking about me. Alright? And it's really interesting to see how what happens is they overlap a little bit. And I want you to see this. So first let's look at the individual phrase here. And the Psalms do this a lot where sometimes it will be me quietly thinking of myself singularly before the throne of God. It's me and Jesus in the room. And then the next verse will now be all of God's people together saying, let us praise Him. Let us come into His holy presence. And now it's me, one tiny person, among the vast number of all of God's elect people, from all the nations who are singing praise before His throne." So look now at verse 5. And this is really the beginning now of this personal dimension. Notice that every time here that a pronoun is used, it is an individual I. I, or me, or mine. Remember, Jesus says, I'll send another helper? Well, Jesus is a helper because Jesus is Yahweh on my side as my helper. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. Don't trust your co-workers, your sinners. Don't trust a party, whether Republican or Democrat, Don't anticipate Him ushering in the Kingdom of God. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust princes, presidents, or partners, or whatever the case may be. Notice here now that there is an explicit they do not overcome through the force of arms and power. Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the strong man boast in his strength, but boast in the name of the Lord. Notice that the Lord's name is repeated here. To say the name again. I struggle with this in translation. The word means It's the personal name of God. And yet it's the God whom I worship and serve. He is my Lord. So the ESV, I think, does the best English translation. But where this translation falls down is it's not the name of some generic master. It is the name of Yahweh. This is the name at the bush. It's the name that God gave to Moses as the people were coming out of Egypt. And notice that again and again, we come back to the one that Moses learned to worship at the bush. All nations surrounded me. In the name of Yahweh, I cut them off. They surrounded me. Surrounded me on every side. In the name of Yahweh, I cut them off. yards on 118C now. They surrounded me like bees. They went out, now here's a transmission question, they went out like a fire among thorns. Which one is stinging? Is it the thorns that are stinging or is it the fire that's stinging? I think it's all of the above because whenever bees are involved in sticking you like thorns, there is a fire that results. It's all one big mess. But the enemies of God are routinely presented in Scripture like thieves. What's the solution here? You don't have to kill the thieves. But you do have to be cut off from the thieves. How is it that that happens? For the believer, it is in the name of God. I pushed hard. I was pushed hard. So that I was falling. Don't ever fall into the trap of thinking that true believers I was pushed hard so that I was falling. But the Lord helped me. by the way, I'll just note, this is like the footprint, like the palm footprints in the sand. The Lord is on my side, my helper, and then there's only one set of footprints. Why? It's not because the Lord left me. It's because now the Lord who is my helper, verse 7, is the Lord who then, because of his steadfast love, verse 1, helped me, verse 13. You see how the psalm is building an eternal logic. It's building this unshakable trust in God because of who God is, because of his character, and above all, because of his mighty acts In verse 14, the Lord is my strength and my song. He has become my Jesus. By the way, I was just listening to the news. I was actually listening to CNN not too long ago. And they interviewed a guy, I forget his last name, but his first name was Doron. And I laughed out loud when I heard this interview because this encapsulated for me This thing that I feel all the time as someone who knows just enough to be dangerous with the Hebrew language. This man's name was Doron, which is actually a Greek word. And I remember when I was learning this Greek word, I was having to remember the word Doron, and every time I heard it, I heard Moro. Right? And I knew that this man's name was not an insult, but it reminded this English brain Oh, Doron, Mormon. But actually the word Doron means gift. The gift is grace. And so for this man to be named And so again, we read through here, and I've given you this assignment before, but go look up on your phone, the word salvation, and the word save, or saves, or saved, as a verb form. In the Psalter, this is the name Jesus. And this leads us, well, let me then comment on verses 17 and 18. I shall not die, but shall live and recount the deeds of the Lord. The Lord has disciplined me severely, but he has not given me over to death. Psalm 16 says, you will not allow your Holy One to see decay. Jesus really died, but he didn't die in the way that unbelievers die, that is to be Verse 19 is the shifting point of this whole psalm. So if we have the two bookends, now this is where things change. Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them. Verse 20, this is the gate of the Lord. The righteous shall enter through them. So is it me as an individual walking through the gates of righteousness? The righteous as a whole walking through the gates of righteousness. Friends, this question in this psalm is resolved when we understand what union with Christ is. The many are the one in union with Christ. open to me in the days of righteousness, that I may enter through them. But then immediately, verse 20, the righteous shall enter through. Because Christ has gone before us, we all go with Him, and indeed are covered by His righteousness. I thank You that You have answered me, and have become my salvation. The stone that the builders rejected This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. So this leads us then to the third point this morning. That is, beginning in verse 19, now we see the we. Now we come from the personal and individual recounting, which I the people of God, those who fear the Lord are saying, these are the ways in which God's, the Lord's steadfast love endures forever. So the third point this morning is exaltation in the Messiah's public presentation. That is that we need to exalt, we need to delight, we need to be happy because the Messiah has finally come upon the scene We're shouting, I thank you that you've answered me. This is the day the Lord has made. Let's rejoice and be glad in it. Lance and I sang that campfire song on the way to church this morning. Lance knew it. He said, I learned that when I was like 12 or 14 years old. This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Verse 25 then, this is where we have two phrases. Probably it should even be, we pray, save us. These two words, these two words in Hebrew are put together, and it goes through Greek, and it goes through Latin. It's actually a complex story, but it comes to the word Hosanna. And so this is a rough transliteration of the Hebrew word here. Save us, we pray. Hosanna, Lord. I want some of you to go to Israel with me. I want you to have real life living pictures that you can do. Oh yeah, I walked there. We started at the top of the Mount of Olives. We go from your direction. Where Jesus got the donkey. He got on the donkey. He came over the top of that hill and then came down through the Garden of Gethsemane where he would be arrested just a few days later. And then he came across the Tigrin Valley and then he came up into Jerusalem through the gate. partner gave his life for the cause of Christ. And along the way, the people that used their cloaks, apparently they didn't have a lot of other stuff with them, but they were using their cloaks a lot on this day. Some of them put their cloaks over the donkeys so Jesus could sit on them because he couldn't look royal. And others were then coming out, running out in a crowd and throwing their cloaks down Jesus was going up into that eastern side of Jerusalem, and then quickly coming to the temple. They're shouting, Hosanna! Save us, we pray! O Son of Man, Hosanna! Give success, O Lord. That is, they were praying that the Messiah will be successful. In his saving mission, it's all coming together. Finally, Jesus is going to start this thing, whatever it is. When is your kingdom coming? Friends, you see how for a few days, he shined like the sun in his brilliance in the temple. And every day, he debated with the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and he beat them every single time. What happened? Well, if his saving mission involved throwing off the chains of the Romans, then it wasn't successful. If it involved bringing salvation of the steadfast love of the Lord to individual human souls through the miracle of regeneration, he was phenomenally successful. And he's gathering it right now. From all the nations of the earth of Eden, now I look out, I know almost all of you very well. I don't know, but I'm sure that in a group this size, not everyone here has been born again. Christianity is a cultural thing. Christianity is something important. as having rivers of living water flowing forth from within you through the saving work of God by His Holy Spirit. We call it the doctrine of regeneration. The saving we're praying for here is the saving Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Who comes in the name of the Lord? Well, he has the Lord right in his name. Yeshua. The Lord saves. It's not merely salvation. It is the Lord's salvation or the Lord saves. And so Jesus in his very name as he's coming into the and I think there's eschatological implications to this. Can you imagine all the people who have ever been redeemed by Christ standing crowded in the temple, we bless you from the house of the Lord. Is that I have, in a way that I can't fully explain, been saved by the sovereign grace of God. Thus, I need to go to church, and I need to be in the midst of God's people, and someday I'll be in the new head, the new Jerusalem, in the new temple, and we will say together, we bless you, who is you, he who comes in the name of the Lord. Instead of God's love, by the acts of God, He has made His light to shine upon us. I'm going to tell you a story. I'm going to tell you a story. and bind the sacrifice to the horns of the altar. But remember that the Psalms are the ones that teach us that it's not the flesh, blood, and goat, the blood of foals and goats, but it's the sacrifice and praise that brings honor to God's name. In fact, we say today, I can't think where it was, but that you aren't of God, that need to pour forth from our mouths, that we believe the gospel, that we need to show that publicly by being part of a praising, worshiping body of Christ. This is why the visible church matters. So now we come back to the individual. Verse 28. You are my God. I will give thanks to I will extol you, I will lift you up, I will magnify you, but His name's primary purpose, to glorify God, to enjoy Him forever. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever. This brings us then to point four, and I really just want to state this today, but Psalm 118 is a great entrance point into thinking about what five of the Psalter God. Book two, the communication. Communication to the nations. Trying to bring the good news to the nations around. Book three, conflagration. This is when it all goes wrong. This is when the temple is destroyed and the people go into captivity in Babylon. Book four is continuation. to fill in that blank today, it is the word consolation. That book five as a whole anticipates the fulfillment of the promises of God among all the nations of the earth. Do you know that the church in the global south is growing faster today than it has ever grown in human history? Do you know that our denomination, right, better be careful I don't want to get myself in trouble Planting seeds, the way we planted seeds in China in the early 1900s, before all our missionaries got chased out, we thought, well, that's over, God knows. Because the gospel had been planted among people in this nation of China. You know, today, in excess of 10%, the Chinese self-identify as Christians. It's amazing to think about what God We thank you, O Lord, that you gather your people, that you bring us into your temple, and that you bless us. That, Lord, when we sing praise to you, as we do in just a moment,