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Psalm 117:1-2
“O Praise the LORD,
all ye nations: praise him, all ye
people. For his merciful kindness is
great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD.”
Introduction
Psalm
117, the shortest Psalm in the Bible, two verses, in the Hebrew, seventeen
words. Remember these Psalms, 113 to
118, the Hillel Psalms, sung certainly through the Passover dinner, some of
them at the Feast of Tabernacles. You
have to imagine Jesus and the disciples the night of the Passover, dinner, the
Last Supper, as he’s instituting these things, speaking to them. And Matthew 26:30 says they sung a hymn as
they went out unto the Mount of Olives, these were the things they were looking
at. These are the things that they were
singing. So let’s look at these two
verses. If someone ever challenges you
that you need to memorize a Psalm to pass a grade somewhere, pick this
one.
“O Praise Ye The LORD, All Ye Goyim’
“O praise the LORD,
all ye nations: praise him, all ye
people. For his merciful kindness is
great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD.” These
challenges to praise, in verse 1, and the end of verse 2. “Praise ye the LORD” is not an invitation, it
would be like an imperative, it’s a challenge, it’s a command, something that
the writer is saying to do, it’s a challenge, an obligation to praise. There in verse
1, “praise the LORD” hillel then down in the end of verse
2, hillel. Interesting, where it
says “praise the LORD” in verse 1, “all ye nations:” then it says again, “praise him, all ye people.” that second word “praise” sabback, means “to loudly adore.” So this praise that they’re asking for is not
bashful. I know God is not hard of
hearing, but he isn’t nervous either. And I have a feeling, in the Temple, the Tabernacle and then the second
Temple, just the sound, the volume, the wonder of these songs that rose off of
the Temple courts before the LORD, with the smoke and the
incense. A challenge here to praise, the
object of the praise in this Psalm is the LORD, over and over, the LORD. The reason that they’re to praise, is “his mercy” and “his truth”, and the ones that are to praise, interesting, are “all ye nations: all ye people.” Look, this is a very interesting Psalm,
here’s Jesus and the disciples, Passover night, leaving the upper room, singing
no doubt, these would be the end Psalms, as they head out into the Mount of
Olives, and you and I read this, we think it’s wonderful. But you have to understand, for the Jew, in
Israel, it must have grated on them, in the middle of their Seder, every time
they had to sing this, “praise ye the LORD,
all ye nations:” yours
might say ‘all ye Gentiles’, that’s the idea, “praise ye the LORD.
all ye nations: praise him all ye
people”, because
the Jews of Jesus’ day, again the Pharisees every morning prayed ‘Thank God I’m not a Gentile, a dog, or a
woman.’ They felt that Gentiles [Goyim] were just fuel for the fires of
hell, Gentiles were PrestoLogs as far as they were concerned. And here in the middle of their Seder, when
they would sing these Psalms, these ancient sacred songs at the Passover, one
of them they would sing would say “praise
the LORD, Jehovah, all ye nations.” ‘Sing
aloud, adore him out loud, all ye people,’ the reason, “for his merciful kindness is great toward
us:” now the Hebrew kind of reads like this, “his merciful kindness has been
great towards,’ the idea is, ‘is mighty upon’ or ‘it
has prevailed upon us,’ it gives us the idea that his great mercy
endures, it says “his mercy endureth for ever.” It endures our nonsense, it endures our
hardheadedness, it endures our failings. So the idea is, this is for all people, all nations, this is a global
challenge “For his merciful kindness has been mighty upon us, or has prevailed
upon us” no trickle here, this is a great outpouring of the mercy of
God upon all people, all nations, “and
the truth of the LORD endureth for ever.” goes on forever, so “Praise ye the LORD.” One author I read, Alexander McClaren said “Mercy is love that stoops down and is kind,
when justice asks otherwise.” Mercy
is love that stoops down to us, and is kind, when justice is asking for
something else. And truth, without mercy
is penal, it’s just punishment. And here
of course, we have also in Psalm 85, there it says ‘Mercy
and truth are met together.’ And
certainly we see that on the cross, justice, mercy, truth, holiness, that God’s
wrath being satisfied, all of it meeting there. But here, wonderfully in this Psalm, two verses, “praise the LORD,”
“O praise the LORD,
all ye nations: praise him, all ye
people. For his merciful kindness has been mighty upon us, it’s prevailed upon us: and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD.”
Psalm 118:1-29
“O give thanks
unto the LORD;
for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever. Let
Israel now say, that his mercy endureth for ever. Let the house of Aaron now
say, that his mercy endureth for
ever. Let them now that fear the LORD say, that his mercy endureth for
ever. I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large
place. The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me? The LORD taketh my part with them that
help me: therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me. It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes. All
nations compassed me about: but in the
name of the LORD will I destroy them. They compassed me
about; yea, they compassed me about: but
in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. They compassed me
about like bees; they are quenched as the fire of thorns: for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. Thou hast thrust
sore at me that I might fall: but the LORD helped me. The LORD is my strength and song, and is
become my salvation. The voice of
rejoicing and salvation is in the
tabernacles of the righteous: the right
hand of the LORD doeth valiantly. The right hand of the LORD is exalted: the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly. I shall not die, but
live, and declare the works of the LORD. The LORD hath chastened me sore: but he hath not given me over unto
death. Open to me the gates of
righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD: this gate of the LORD,
into which the righteous shall enter. I
will praise thee: for thou hast heard
me, and art become my salvation. The
stone which the builders refused is
become the head stone of the corner. This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes. This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD, I beseech thee, send now
prosperity. Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD;
we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD. God is the LORD,
which hath shewed us light: bind the
sacrifice with cords, even unto the
horns of the altar. Thou art my God, and I will praise thee: thou
art my God, I will exalt thee. O
give thanks unto the LORD;
for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.”
Introduction
“Psalm
118 now, which is quoted over a dozen times in the New Testament. It is not an acrostic in that it is laid out
according to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. But it is set in a number of different pairs
to make it easy to memorize. If you’ll
look, well let’s read through it, and then we’ll look at it. “O give thanks unto the LORD;
for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever. Let
Israel now say, that his mercy endureth for ever. Let the house of Aaron now
say, that his mercy endureth for
ever. Let them now that fear the LORD say, that his mercy endureth for
ever.
First Reason To Praise The LORD, His Mercy Endures Forever”
It
begins by saying “Give thanks unto the LORD” and what’s repeated four times
here is because “his mercy endures
forever.” “O give thanks unto the LORD;
for he is good:” Most
evidence of that, “because his mercy endureth for ever. Let Israel now say, that his mercy endureth for ever.” (verses 1-2) we
have a bunch of “now says.’” Let Israel
say that. I hope they’re saying that
tonight over there. “Let the house of Aaron now say, that his mercy endureth for ever.” (verse 3) and now this includes us, “Let
them now that fear the LORD say, that his mercy endureth for
ever.” (verse 4) Is that us? Look, do you fear the LORD? You know, the Bible says “the fear of the LORD is clean,” you know, the kind
of fear that we have of the Lord as his children is not the kind of fear that
has torment, but it is clean, it is sobering. Anybody’s whose had a good dad, I loved my dad, but I feared him
too. Mom would always whack us, if she
was just in a bad mood she’d whack you. She would whack us for anything. But when she had to say “I’m
telling your father,” that was very sobering. So here, we should praise the LORD, he’s good. Major evidence of that, ‘his mercy endures forever.’ He’s not patient for a month, he’s not
patient for six months, you can really wear out a human being if you expect him
to be patient with you for six months [and yet, at times, God’s asked us to be
patient about unanswered prayer for years at times, so I guess God’s trying to
develop his patience within us]. It says ‘He’s
good, his mercy endures forever.’ “Let the house of Israel now say,
that his mercy endureth for
ever. Let the house of Aaron now say,
that his mercy endureth for ever. Let them now that fear the LORD say, that his mercy endureth for
ever.” (verses 2-4) does that sound right? Sounds good? Are you those that fear the LORD? Well let’s say it. “His
mercy endures forever.” Now
everybody else whose just being uncooperative, you know, this means I’m getting
into heaven. I have this pilgrimage I’m
on, I haven’t performed perfectly. I’ve
made many mistakes, I’ve failed, I’ve found myself on my knees so many times
before him. And the closer you walk with
the Lord, the more into his light you come, the more aware you are of your
imperfections [or if you really want to know your imperfections, get married,
your wife will point them out to you]. The greatest experiences again, that I’ve had in the Lord’s presence, is
the more overwhelming sense ‘I am such a
sinful man.’ But the crushing weight
of his presence was his love, his grace. And the wonderful thing for me, is ‘his mercy endures forever, his mercy
endures forever.’ You know, some
of us, it says, we’re gonna get into heaven [into the kingdom of heaven, which
will end up on earth, Revelation 21], and our works will be done, our attitudes
are going to endure the fire, you know, gold, silver, precious stones (cf. 1st Corinthians 3), and it says some of us, our works are going to be burnt up like
wood, hay and stubble, but the soul itself shall be saved. Some of us are getting in with our rear-ends
smoking. That’s not the way you want to
go. Peter prays that we would receive an
abundant entrance into the kingdom of God. And there’s no reason not to, because ‘his mercy endures forever.’ Look, his grace, you know I hear people often
say this, ‘The gospel of grace, or up
there in Calvary, the gospel of grace is a cheap, it’s a cheap grace.’ There is no such thing as cheap grace, it
cost the Father his own beloved Son, to watch his Son bleed his life into the
ground, to lay upon him the sin of the world, to fire all of his holy wrath
down on his own Son, when he could have stopped that process at any time, and
was a Father who loved his Son more than any father that’s ever lived has ever
loved his son. There is nothing “cheap”
about God’s grace. The other side of
that coin is, it is the most demanding Gospel that it is, because when you blow
it today, you have no excuse not to get on your knees, confess your sins, ask
him for forgiveness, and get up tomorrow with a fresh start, and go back at it
again. You have no excuse, because the
gospel of grace picks you up, dusts you off, and kicks you in your rear end and
says ‘Let’s get moving.’ And it’s a wonderful thing, ‘his
mercy endures forever.’ I can
understand why Luther enjoyed this, he got in a bad mood sometimes.
‘God Is Our Real Ally, Trust In Him Not In Man Or
Politicians’
Verse 5 says “I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large
place.” These verses, 5 through 9 are going to tell
us that God is an ally to those who trust him. “the LORD answered me, and set me in a large
place.” in a
broad place, the Scripture in contrast to a narrow place, pressure, ‘the
LORD has set me in a wide place, or a broad place of advantage.’ “The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can
man do unto me?” (verse 6) Sometimes we have to convince ourselves of
that, don’t we? “I will not fear: what can man
do unto me?” the fear of man brings a snare, and some of us, we spend a
major part of our lives afraid. You
know, sometimes it’s because of abuse when we were kids, sometimes we’re in a
situation where we never measured up sometime, and all of a sudden we have a
God whose all-loving, whose telling us, ‘I love you, my mercy endures forever. I don’t see any spot or wrinkle in you.’ And we have to convince ourselves,
you know, because we’re so afraid of men and what they think. He says, “The
LORD taketh my part with them that help me: therefore shall I see my desire ‘upon them that hate me.” (verse 7) the enemy is not going to
triumph over me. And please listen, you
know as Christians, we’re not to rejoice in the destruction or the dismantling
of any human being around us, you’re supposed pray for those who despitefully
use you. [A proverb, yes, in the Old
Testament, says we’re not to laugh at the calamity of your enemy when he falls. So it’s in the Old Testament too, you’ve just
gotta look a little harder for it.] The
truth is, there are principalities and powers and rulers of darkness in high
places that are around us all the time. And you, as God’s son or
daughter, we are a specific target of spiritual warfare and of the enemy, and wonderfully
here, you know “the LORD taketh my part with them that help me.” he’s on my side, “therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me.” (verse 7) we’re gonna see the LORD deal with principalities and
powers. “It is better” and we’re
going to hear that twice now, “It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.” (verse 8) Anybody
agree with that? “It is better to trust in the
LORD than to put confidence in man.” Anybody here been let down by a man,
disappointed by a man [or a woman]? I
could write my list. I’m not supposed
to, I’m supposed to forgive, I’m not supposed to be historical. I get hysterical once in a while, but I
shouldn’t be historical. Now here’s the
interesting thing about this verse, at least in our King James Bible, King
James Bible, this is just free information, there’s 3,568,489 letters, 810,697
words, 31,175 verses, 1,189 chapters, but the middle verse in all of that is verse 8, “It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in
man.” I don’t think that’s just coincidental, I
don’t think there’s any coincidence with God’s Word. “It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.” How about this one? “It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes”--politicians (verse 9) News flash, right? I mean, you look at what’s going on, this is
a no-brainer. You know, the princes were
the political leaders, “It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in politicians.”
‘God Has Our Back, Even On A National Level’
“All nations
compassed me about: but in the name of
the LORD will I destroy them.” (verse 10) He’s saying, listen to this, “All nations” plural, “compassed me about:” now probably this
Psalmist is talking about possibly Nebuchadnezzar, the greatest forces in the
world that surrounded Jerusalem, and through that lens no doubt he’s seeing
something even greater than that. But “All nations compassed me about:” this
is not saying the crabby neighbor who always gives me a hard time. He’s saying “All nations compassed me about”, they surrounded me with ill
intention. “but in the name of the LORD will I destroy them. They compassed me about; yea, they compassed
me about: but in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.” (verses 10-11) “They
compassed me about like bees; they are quenched as the fire of thorns: for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.” (verse 12) “like bees,” that’s bad. I don’t know about you guys, I like honey,
and I can deal with honey bees, I don’t particularly like cicada killers,
wasps, hornets, the whole family there that I could do without. They must have something to do with the
fall. “They compassed me about like bees; they are quenched as the fire of
thorns: for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.” (verse 12)
We’re All In Spiritual Warfare If We’re Real
Christians
Now
verse 13 and 14 have interesting verbs here. “Thou hast” now this is the
Psalmist speaking at the enemy, thinking about how he’s been surrounded, “Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might
fall” (verse 13a) [comment: having just watched the BBC’s “The Last Kingdom” and read four of
Bernard Cromwell’s books about king Alfred the Great fighting the sword-Danes
who had invaded the British Isles during the 800’s AD, this term “thrust sore
at me” is an English term for sword-warfare, which was also extant during
David’s time and Biblical times, and right up to the 1500s when muskets first
appeared.] Any of us who have been in
spiritual warfare should be able to embrace part of that statement. This is what the enemy wants, wants us to
fall. And understand this, there is no
spiritual progress without warfare. And
understand this, if you’re not in sexual sin, you’re not watching pornography,
you’re not in substance abuse, you’re not a hit-man, you’re not living in sin,
then the way the enemy is going to come at you, is the tongue, the mouth. James tells us the tongue is set on fire of
hell. He says here, “Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might fall: but the LORD helped me. The LORD is my strength and song, and
is become my salvation.” (verses 13-14) [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/Does/TheMatrix.htm]
“The Voice Of Rejoicing And Salvation Is In The
Tabernacles Of The Righteous”
“The voice of
rejoicing and salvation is in the
tabernacles of the righteous: the right
hand of the LORD doeth valiantly.” (verse 15) in
the homes of the righteous, in the tents of the righteous. So, the voice of rejoicing and salvation
should be in the homes, the dwelling places of the righteous, your home, your
family, your children, part of what should be part of that environment is
rejoicing, salvation. [Comment: This
same thought is reflected in Deuteronomy
6:4-9, “Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God is one LORD:
and thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
might. And these words, which I command
thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk
of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and
when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be
as frontlets between thine eyes. And
thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.” This would apply to having quality Christian
music in our homes as well, Praise & Worship music.]
Jesus And The Disciples Were Singing This As They
Crossed The Kidron To Gethsemane
“The right hand
of the LORD is exalted: the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly. I shall not die, but
live, and declare the works of the LORD.” (verses 16-17) Imagine Jesus with the disciples, crossing
into Gethsemane, crossing the Brook of Kidron. Kidron means “black.” It was
called “black” because over 100,000 lambs would be sacrificed on the Temple
courts, and the drainage system would drain all of that blood down into the
Kidron, and then it would be washed away. There was an odor to it. And you
crossed that brook, that valley at certain times of the year, and it was just
black with blood. And imagine Jesus as a
child, you know, he was up in the Temple precincts when he was 12, when Mary
and Joseph had to go back and find him, he said ‘Didn’t you know I had to be
about my Father’s business?’ Just think of him, year after year, going there and realizing ‘One
day all of this is a picture of the blood that I’m going to shed here.’ And Jesus said to his disciples “I
have a baptism to be baptized with, and I am straightened till it is
accomplished, that is what I am here for. I have not come to be served, but to serve and lay down my life a ransom
for many.” And imagine Jesus
now, crossing Kidron, the smell, they had just sacrificed, Josephus tells us,
about 200,000 lambs, the day before [this would have been the 13th Nisan, which the evening of, going on into the 14th Nisan, was the
day/evening, the 13th/14thNisan, when Jesus held his Passover meal
with the disciples. That’s the day when
the majority of lambs would be sacrificed, before the daylight portion of the
14h Nisan.] And they’re singing
together, “The voice of rejoicing and
salvation is in the tabernacles of
the righteous: the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly.” (verse 15) they had no idea what was on the heart of Jesus. “The
right hand of the LORD is exalted: the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly. I shall not die, but
live, and declare the works of the LORD.” (verses 16-17), headed to Gethsemane. Isaiah 53 tells us the same thing, “he
shall see the travail of his soul.” “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD. The LORD hath chastened me sore: but he hath not given me over to death.”
(verses 17-18) isn’t that interesting?
This Speaks Of Jesus’ Ascension To Heaven
“Open to me the
gates of righteousness: I will go into
them, and I will praise the LORD: this gate of the LORD,
into which the righteous shall enter.” (verses 19-20) just access, “Lift
up your heads, O ye gates, and be lift up ye everlasting doors, and the King of
glory shall come in” (Psalm 24:7) Imagine what it was like when he ascended. “I
will praise thee: for thou hast heard
me, and art become my salvation.” (verse 21)
“The Stone Which The Builders Refused Is Become The
Headstone Of The Corner”
And
now this last group of verses, so many of us are familiar with them, so
relative to the Lord. “The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is
the LORD’s
doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” (verses 22-24) You know that Jesus would say to the
Pharisees and the Sadducees, Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the
Scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head
of the corner. This is the LORD’s doing, it is marvelous in
our eyes. Therefore I say unto you, the
kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the
fruits thereof.” Jesus quotes it, as he’s headed
up to his crucifixion, and the religious leaders of the day are rejecting him,
and he says ‘I am that very stone.’ Listen, of course in those days, they didn’t have blueprints
specifically the way we have them, they had drawings. They didn’t have lasers for pouring
foundations and stuff the way we do, they did it all with stone. And they of course would begin everything
they did with a cornerstone. That was
laid first. Then the floor, of whatever
they were making, would be measured off of that cornerstone. Then the walls would be measured off of that
cornerstone, and every other stone in the construction, and you and I are a
living Temple (and living stones within that Temple God is building) and every
other stone is relative to the cornerstone, it’s position, its function, where
it was, how it stood, every other stone was relative to the cornerstone. [Comment: see http://www.unityinchrist.com/prophets/Zephaniah/Zephaniah1.htm and scroll to and start reading
from Zephaniah 2:1-3 for an interesting study about God’s spiritual Temple
construction project, and what is Jesus’ desire for the greater Body of Christ
in these end-times.] And as we go
through Scripture we find Jesus Christ described as the smiting stone, the
stumbling stone, or the cornerstone.
Jesus Christ, The Smiting Stone
In
Daniel’s prophecy, as he and his three friends are in Nebuchadnezzar’s court,
Nebuchadnezzar has a dream. And when he
has this dream he calls for all his magicians and soothsayers, everybody there
on his government payroll, and he says ‘I want you to interpret for me the dream
that I just had.’ And they say
to him, ‘Well, you tell us the dream, then we’ll interpret it.’ He says, ‘No, I inherited all you cronies
from my dad, if you’re really soothsayers and magicians, you tell me the dream
and what it means, or I’m going to cut off your heads and make your house a
dunghill.’ That was on his
chariot, his bumper-sticker, ‘I’ll cut
off your heads and make your house a dunghill.’ So, they say ‘There’s
one kid here who might be able to interpret it, Daniel.’ Daniel says ‘O king, give me time here,’ and he goes back to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and says, ‘I
think probably we should have a prayer-meeting.’ And they say ‘What’s up?’ and he says ‘The king’s had a dream, and if
we don’t come back with the right info he’s going to cut off our heads and make
our house a dunghill,’ and they pray. You would too. And Daniel of course
comes back, and he says ‘This was your dream, ok. And God gave it to you because he wants you
to understand that the God who rules in heaven lifts up one ruler and he puts
down another. And sometimes he sets over
a nation even the basest, the most ungodly people as rulers in some
nations. That’s he business.’ And he said, ‘You had a dream, and you saw
this great image, O king, had a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, belly
and thighs of bronze, and legs of iron, and then feet of with ten toes of iron
and clay,’ and he said, ‘you O Nebuchadnezzar are the head of gold.’ He said, ‘After you shall come another kingdom, the
Medes and the Persians, and then after them another kingdom, which was the
Greeks, after them this iron, the Roman empire. And then in the very last days, some type of re-unification of the Roman
Empire, with ten different characters to it,’ whatever that might be,
we’re looking at the European Union here and we’re seeing a reality in some of
these things in the day that we live in. And what happens there is because God used Babylon to judge Israel, to
destroy the Temple in Jerusalem and so forth. At that point in time the empires of Gentile rule began to move forth
[see http://www.unityinchrist.com/kings/6.html and http://www.unityinchrist.com/ezra/ezra1.html and http://www.unityinchrist.com/prophecies/2ndcoming_4.htm]. And
they move through all of those hundreds of years and all of those empires, and
all the way up to the last days, when God will finally remember his ancient
people, take out his Church, and work again with his ancient people, who we see
on the news today [i.e. the Israelis]. If you want to know what’s going on in Israel, and you have an iPhone,
just google “Red Alert” and put the app on your phone, and every time a missile
is fired over there your phone will buzz. And you can sit by your phone and all day long it’s going zzz, zzz, or beep, beep, while missiles are hitting in Israel, Red Alert, put it
in. And every time that happens it
should remind you of Daniel, Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21, 2nd Thessalonians, Book of Revelation, every time you hear that beep it should say Prophecy, Prophecy, in fact you should
see it, if you’re more technical, if you could program your phone instead of
beeping, to say the word ‘Prophecy!’ every
time a missile hits over there. But this
is the world we’re living in. And the
end of that interpretation was ‘and then I saw O king, a great stone,
falling from heaven, and it struck the image on the feet, and it destroyed that
great image, and then grew into a great mountain, and filled the all of the
earth.’ So for some, Jesus
Christ is the smiting stone. Listen,
don’t be disheartened when we look at the world, look what’s going on around
us, there are people who hate Christians, they hate Christ, they hate the
Bible, they hate morality, they hate marriage as defined by the Bible, they
hate Creation as defined by the Bible, they hate the fact that we say that
Jesus is the only way to come to God. And there are nations, and they are in power now, this is their day, and
they are rebelling against the truth. But if they don’t repent and turn to him, they shall meet Jesus Christ
the smiting-stone, and he will come. So
we should pray for the lost world that we live in, so I hope there’s great
revival before he comes, because he will come, and when he comes, it tells us
in Revelation
chapter 19, ‘Thou art faithful, thou art just, and what they’re doing, they shed
the blood of the prophets, now you’re giving them blood to drink,’ all
of the horrendous things that will finally come, angels, saints, all say ‘Lord,
you did everything you could to turn the hearts of men, you even sent finally
an angel flying around the planet, preaching the everlasting Gospel in every
language and tongue on the planet, and men will be shaking their fist at the
sky, cursing the God of heaven.’ And
for them Jesus Christ is the smiting-stone.
Jesus Christ, The Stumbling Stone
For
religious people, and the religious people in his day, he’s a
stumbling-stone. These Pharisees and
Sadducees, the Sanhedrin who were running things, the problem was, they were
building their own thing, and it wasn’t what he was building. They were religious, they were building their
own edifices and their own religious system, and they wanted things to work a
certain way, and you had to keep the law of Moses and these are the rules you
had to keep, and if you did all these things then you were righteous. And the Pharisees, some of them remarkably,
had the first five books of Moses memorized. Some of them keeping the Law to the best of their ability. And yet Jesus would say “Unless your righteousness
exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will in no wise enter into the
kingdom of heaven.” His
disciples, their minds where blown when he said this. And it is the same today, there are religious
people, they got their own thing going on, and because they have years of their
lives invested in it, they can’t stand the fact that you’re saying ‘All you need to do is trust Jesus, repent
of your sins, ask his forgiveness and you’ll have eternal life,’ they don’t
want to hear that. He’s a
stumbling-stone to them. ‘You’re mother, grandmother, we put the
stained glass windows in, we got our name on the end of the pew, we’ve done
this every week, we helped put the carpets in, we did this, and there you go to
that stupid place in that old meter factory, and you and all your junkie
friends are trying to tell me that they’re going to heaven and we’re not?’ and you say, ‘Well that is what I’m
trying to tell you, ya.’ And he’s a
stumbling-stone to the religious. [Comment: There are three
categories of Christians within the greater Body of Christ. To see a description of them, see http://www.unityinchrist.com/history/IntroChurchHistory.htm] Because they want to earn something, they
want to hold onto something, they’re building something that he’s not building,
and his grace stumbles them.
Jesus Christ Is Our Cornerstone
Because
we mess up, we get back on our feet again, we mess up, we get back on our feet
again, we mess up, we get back on our feet again, because it’s love, his mercy
that stoops down in kindness when justice wants something else. And he picks us up and he puts us back on our
feet again. But to those who trust him,
and those who believe, he’s the chief cornerstone. And they’re able to say, ‘You know, this is the LORD’s doing, and its marvelous in
our eyes, this is the LORD’s doing, it’s marvelous in our
eyes, the very stone the builders rejected because they were building something
else, has become the headstone of the corner, and for me, my life now is
measured off of Jesus Christ. What I do,
where I go, what I say, how I treat my wife, how I treat my children, my
grandchildren, what I do with my time, what I put before my eyes, our lives now
should be measured off of him, he’s the cornerstone.’ And
the wonder of it is, his mercy endures forever. The wonder of it is, we’re measuring off of a gracious, loving heavenly
Father. And he is committed to continue
the good work he’s begun, and bring it to completion. He has set before us, we’re not just going to
a destination, we’re going to an image, and he’s conforming us into the image
of his Son. “The stone which the builders
refused” imagine Jesus now, he’s headed into Gethsemane, he knows the
religious leaders are going to kill him, because they’re building some other
thing, “The stone which the builders refused, the
Pharisees, the Sadducees refused is become the head stone of the corner.” (verse 22) I wonder what Jesus was
thinking, because his disciples didn’t even know, they would flee. They still didn’t get it. And for him to sing these words, “This is the LORD’s
doing, Jehovah’s doing, it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” (verses 23-24)
What The Church Needs Now Is REVIVAL!
They
cried this on Palm Sunday [which in reality of the timing of the event,
actually occurred on Friday of the week] “Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech thee, send now
prosperity. Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD.”
(verses 24-26) A week earlier they were crying that out,
they were screaming, and it tells us in Luke 19, verse 41 that Jesus looked
at the city, and he convulsed, the weeping there, as he convulsed, he was
heaving, he was crying out loud. And he
said, ‘If you had only known, this day, the things that belong to your
peace. But now your house is left unto you
desolate.’ It was a specific
day, the day prophecied again from the time that Artaxerxes gave the command to
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, March 14th, 445BC, you add 173,880
days to that, and it comes out to Palm Sunday [actually Palm Friday, see http://www.unityinchrist.com/lamb/lastsix.htm for the precise timing of events
leading up to and through the crucifixion of Jesus Christ]. The day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem, they
should have known that day, the crowds are screaming ‘Save now, blessed is he that
comes in the name of the LORD.’ and
it says Jesus, you read Luke 19:38-41, he’s sobbing, he’s
sobbing. He says ‘Your children are going to be
slaughtered in the streets,’ they refused, they rejected the
cornerstone, because they were building something different than what the Lord
was doing. [While 70AD was a massive destruction of Jerusalem an the Temple, a
far greater destruction of Jerusalem and all Judea occurred from 132 through 135AD,
called the Bar Kochba Revolt. For a
description of this, log onto this link and scroll to the paragraph title The
Bar Kochba Revolt and read
through that account. http://www.unityinchrist.com/history2/earlychurch1a.htm this was a continuation of the fulfillment of what Jesus spoke.] “Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the
LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD. God is the LORD,
which hath shewed us light: bind the
sacrifice with cords, even unto the
horns of the altar.” (verses 26-27) how remarkable, look, there are, they say, almost 200 specific prophecies about
the 1st coming of Jesus Christ [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/prophecies/1stcoming.htm]. They argue those numbers back and forth. But they believe that there’s twice as many
that speak of the 2nd coming [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/prophecies/2ndcoming.htm and http://www.unityinchrist.com/Prophets_Prophecy.html]. You know, and we can be in the Church long
enough and be around all that long enough, familiarity breeds contempt, we can
get desensitized. I remember, I got
saved in ’72, everybody’s reading Late
Great Planet Earth and Satan Is Alive
And Well, you know, Hal Lindsey’s books, and everybody was excited, you
know, 1972, ’73, ’74, you shared Jesus with everybody, everybody was an
evangelist, everybody was a pastor, everybody was in ministry, everybody was
engaged, because we believed Jesus was coming, everyday it was a huge part of
evangelism, there was a Revival, the
Holy Spirit was moving, incredible things were happening, and there was
conviction, you weren’t just reading the Bible, ‘Ok, I’ll put it down in the Lost & Found until next Sunday,’ people read the Bible, ‘How do I be a
husband? How do I be a wife? How do I raise kids? What should I do with my drugs, what should I
do with the alcohol? What should I do
with my sexual activity?’ Everybody
was looking, there was conviction, there were remarkable things happening. And we thought for sure Jesus was going to
come by 1980, he didn’t come. 1981, he
didn’t show up. 1990 he wasn’t
here. 1995, 2004, what’s the deal? Now here we are at 2014. Pretty soon we’ll be so hard of hearing, when
the Trumpet blows I’m not going to be able to hear it. [laughter] No, you’ll hear that with other than eardrums, I guarantee ya. What we have to be careful of, I look at the
news today, and I know that he could come at any moment [for the Church, that
is, either taking them to a place of safety or a rapture to the New Jerusalem, that
heavenly city Abraham was looking for, prior to our coming back to earth with
Jesus Christ to rule the world and put down WWIII. It is debatable as to whether this
rapture/place of safety removal from harms way occurs just before the 7 year
tribulation or just before the start of WWIII, which occurs 3.5 years into the
tribulation period of time. People can
debate and speculate all they want, I’m just gonna wait and see how God does
it. He will do it, one way or the
another, he said so in Revelation 3:10]. I’m praying that we’ll see a great revival before he comes. I think of so many lost. But we have become desensitized to the world
we live in, we’ve become desensitized to sin, we’ve become desensitized to the
world, the heathen world that’s around us. I was listening to somebody the other day, and he said ‘You know, raising kids, he said, years ago
I thought one thing, but now, have your kids in home-school or a Christian
school,’ or he said, ‘these days not
putting your kids in a Christian school, it’s kind of like Abraham saying to
Sarah, ‘Did you go down and enroll Isaac in the Canaanite school yet? You know, the Canaanite bus is going to start
coming to pick him up, and we need to get him down there,’ and just the way
the world has changed, and what they’re teaching in public schools, and just 55
million abortions since Roe v. Wade, think of what we’ve turned to, and we’re
desensitized to it, we’ve become numb to it. You say, ‘The Canaanites were
terrible, what they did,’ the Canaanite’s record doesn’t even come close to
what’s happened here since 1973, it doesn’t even come close to the blood that
is flowing here in the world that we live in. And I look around, and I realize, and his goodness and his mercy endures
forever, I love reading that, ‘Praise you
the Lord, sing his mercies,’ because I know he’s coming, and he’s justified
to come at any moment. I pray that we
might see one more great ingathering before he comes, I pray that, I think of
the revival in Wales in 1904, that was an inside-out revival. The Church was so cool, the Church needed to
be set ablaze, and it poured out into the community, and evangelism was a
byproduct, and millions turned to Christ. 1969-70, the Jesus Movement was an outside-in revival, just Hippies and
just the whole counter-culture, everybody started getting saved, I remember
witnessing to people high on LSD and they would pray the sinners prayer, and be
straight, the Lord would bring them right
down! And people were getting saved
coming into the Church, it was an outside-in revival. I think we’re ready for an inside-out revival
again. The Church needs to be set ablaze
again. And if you don’t need that, pray
for me, because I do, I need to be set ablaze, I need my heart to be on fire
again. Because I can be very selfish and
very comfortable…I can be very selfish and very comfortable, and there’s people
going to hell all around me. There’s
things in my life that are not Christlike. On the other side, I am so encouraged, because his mercy does endure
forever. He loves me, he’s called me, as
he’s called you. My life has a purpose,
like yours does, we’re all measured off of the chief cornerstone, every one of
us here is relative to that cornerstone. It should determine how we get up, how we go to bed, what we do during
the day, what we say to people, what we think of morality, what we do with our
children, what we do with our spouses, we should be measuring our life off of
that chief cornerstone. Because God is
building something that the world isn’t [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/prophets/Zephaniah/Zephaniah1.htm and start reading from Zephaniah
2:1-3]. “Blessed is he that cometh in
the name of the LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD. God is the LORD,
which hath shewed us light:” here’s
the light that he has showed us, “bind
the sacrifice with cords, even unto
the horns of the altar.” (verses 26-27) imagine Jesus himself singing
this. That is the light that God has
given to us, that he so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever would believe on him would not perish, but have everlasting life
(John 3:16). God did not send his Son
into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might have
life. Men don’t come to the light,
because they love darkness, and very interesting, they agape darkness more than
light. They’re dedicated to darkness,
committed to it more than light. But any
that come to the light, and he is the light of men, they find life. How wonderfully, because God gives them
light. What is the light? “bind
the sacrifice with cords, even unto
the horns of the alter.” That’s the
light that God gives, the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/misc/WhatIsTheGospel%20.htm]. Isn’t it wonderful to end then like
this? “Thou art my God, and I will
praise thee: thou art my God, I will exalt thee. O give thanks unto the LORD;
for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.” (verses 28-29) you’ve bound your Son with cords to the
altar. You art my God, I will praise
you, you are my God, I will exalt you, the cry, O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good. How do we know that? Because his mercy endures forever. Let’s bow our hearts, we’ll have the
musicians come…[transcript of a connective expository sermon on Psalm 117:1-2
and Psalm 118:1-29, given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia,
13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]
related
links:
“Thou
hast thrust sore at me that I might fall”—we’re all in spiritual warfare. See, http://www.unityinchrist.com/Does/TheMatrix.htm
“The
stone which the builders refused”---Jesus’ Temple construction project,see http://www.unityinchrist.com/prophets/Zephaniah/Zephaniah1.htm
Three
types of Christian churches, see,
http://www.unityinchrist.com/history/IntroChurchHistory.htm
For
the glorious light God gives, see
http://www.unityinchrist.com/misc/WhatIsTheGospel%20.htm
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