This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Misc. OT Sermons” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, August 24, 1997.

Tonight we are reading for our scripture Psalm 118. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his lovingkindness is everlasting. O, let Israel say, His lovingkindness is everlasting! O, let the house of Aaron say, His lovingkindness is everlasting! O, let those who fear the Lord say, His lovingkindness is everlasting!

From my distress I called upon the Lord. The Lord answered me and set me in a large place. The Lord is for me. I will not fear. What can man do to me? The Lord is for me among those who help me. Therefore I will work with satisfaction on those who hate me.” It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.

All nations surrounded me. In the name of the Lord, I will surely cut them off. They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me. In the name of the Lord, I will surely cut them off. They surrounded me like bees. They were extinguished. as a fire of thorns. In the name of the Lord I will surely cut them off.

You pushed me violently so that I was falling, but the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation.” The sound of joyful shouting and salvation is in the tense of the righteous. The right hand of the Lord does valiantly The right hand of the Lord is exalted. The right hand of the Lord does valiantly.

I will not die, but live and tell of the works of the Lord. The Lord has disciplined me severely, but he has not given me over to death. Open to me the gates of righteousness. I shall enter through them. I shall give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord. The righteous will enter through it. I shall give thanks to you, for you have answered me, and you have become my salvation.” The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.

This is the Lord’s doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. O Lord, do save, we beseech you. O Lord, we beseech you, do send prosperity. Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. We have blessed you from the house of the Lord. The Lord is God. He has given us light. Bind the festival sacrifice with cords 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. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his lovingkindness is everlasting.”

Lord, we would be refreshed in this your day. It is important to us, as you know, you have ordained this day that we might be refreshed in it, and with that refreshment, O God, live to you throughout the week. May it be so for this day and for this week. And Lord, may you be delighted in the service that we perform in your name and by your strength. O God, your word is meat and drink for us, and in its strength we endure, even as we persevere in and through our Savior, Jesus Christ. in whose name we pray, amen.

I will admit to you that this is one of those after-vacation sermons. And I do trust that it isn’t too disjointed, and that there is a thread of consistency that you will be able to proceed running through it. I dare say Psalm 118 is one of those psalms to which it seems we are inevitably drawn, for it contains any number of compelling features, including, as I’m sure you noticed, many memorable lines.

Memorable lines, for that matter, both open and close the psalm. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his lovingkindness, that is, his covenantal faithfulness is everlasting. You find that, as I’ve already indicated, both at the opening and at the conclusion of the psalm. But not only are these words, at least the last phrase in them, repeated again and again You can see them repeated in the first four verses of this psalm, in fact, but they and extrapolations from them are often expressed throughout the Psalter as a whole, and also in other Old Testament passages. In the psalms you will find parallels in the openings to Psalm 105. And in Psalm 136, you will find an entire psalm built around the statement that opens and closes this psalm. And the repetition of the phrase throughout, for his lovingkindness is everlasting.

The other Old Testament passages that I have referred to, these words seem to have a particular force as they appear in them, a force in the context of the establishment of Israel’s sanctuary and its dedication. words that we cited from Psalm 118, reflected on or echoed from David in 1 Chronicles 16.34 in connection with the elevation of the Ark of the Covenant, you can find them again at the time of the dedication of the Temple during Solomon’s reign.

2nd Chronicles 5.13, and then in 7.3, and you can find them once more in Ezra 3.11, in the days in which the temple was being rebuilt. Even Jeremiah’s use of these words finds its reference in a promise to restore the temple in Jerusalem after the exile. You can note Jeremiah’s use of these words in his 33rd chapter, the 11th verse.

But then there is the reference that we find in the 19th verse, to the gate of righteousness, bringing before us once more the possibility of temple construction. And this is echoed in verse 20, where there is spoken of the gate of the Lord. Most certainly in view here are the gates and the gate of the city of God in which the sanctuary stands, but also, most likely, the gates and the gate to the temple itself. In fact, it would seem that the gates of the city become synonymous with the gates of the sanctuary, and the city and the sanctuary become one. The city and the temple become one. with those entering the city drawing near to the very presence of God in his sanctuary.

And this sanctuary language becomes explicit, does it not, when we come to verses 26 and 27, where we find these words, We have blessed you from the house of the Lord. and then in the 27th verse, explicitly once more, bind the festal sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.

It would seem then that the call issued by this psalm, namely to give thanks to the Lord, is heard in the context of the assembly, in the context of the Church. in the congregation as that congregation has gathered for worship for the corporate acknowledgment of the Lord’s goodness as expressed in his constant covenantal faithfulness. Moving back to the beginning of the psalm, in verse 2, the native-born members of the of the assembly. At this time, the Israelites are called upon to confess the great truth that God is good, and his covenantal faithfulness is everlasting. In verse 3, the priests and ministers to the Old Testament Church are called upon to confess the very same thing. In verse 4 it would seem that all God-hearers, those most likely Gentiles who have attached themselves to Israel, are called upon to confess within the assembly the Lord’s perpetual mercy to his elect, among whom it would seem now they have been graciously included.

But there is another memorable statement here, another memorable line, to be found in this psalm, if not many more. I have in mind verse 24. How often have we heard these words? This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. These words, as familiar as they are, may not be easily comprehended by us. In fact, their magnificent poetry and cadence might get in the way. This is the day which the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.

The intention of these words, a parallel for them is found in the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi chapter 4 verse 3, where the Lord of hosts describes for us the day of salvation, a day in which the Son of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings for those who fear his name, verse 2, a day in which the wicked will be as ashes beneath the feet of the righteous, a day in which the Lord himself, we are told, in words that parallel what we find in Psalm 118, verse 24, the day in which the Lord his name In words that parallel that statement and sentiment of Psalm 818, we find that this is a day, Malachi 4.3, in which the Lord himself will act conclusively for his people. You see, the day which the Lord has named, creating it seemingly as a creation day itself, The day which the Lord has made referenced in Psalm 118 verse 24 is nothing less, none other, than the day of the Lord. The mutual call then to rejoice and be glad in this day contains the Holy Spirit’s beckoning for the earth concerning that day. You will note, however, that the declaration about the day is this.

God has already made it, he has already established it for his elect. That is, he has already acted in forming it. Now, don’t misunderstand me. What I’m referring to here is no denial of the coming day of the Lord. then God will bring this sad world to a close in the full vindication of his Church and in the confirmation of his judgment upon the wicked.

But the force of the psalm is the recognition of and the celebration of the fact that this grand and conclusive day has already intruded upon the experience of God’s people. It is as if they are living in its reality. And that is a supreme joy to them, because they know that they, living in the reality of that day, have already been vindicated by their God. Conscious of this then, we are able to bring together the two familiar statements or lines that we’ve commented on thus far in this psalm.

You will recall that the first of these lines has the context elsewhere in the Old Testament of the establishment of God’s sanctuary, whether the tabernacle in the case of David, or the first temple in the case of Solomon, or the second temple in the case of Ezra. It is particularly in association with the establishment of the Lord’s sanctuary, then, that the day which the Lord has made, the day in which he has acted, the day of the Lord itself, has arrived. in the event of the establishment of God’s final and conclusive habitation for his people, in the midst of which he is enthroned as their king and set in their midst as their sovereign. The day of the Lord has become visible, it has been felt, it has been experienced by the elect of the Lord even before the end of the world, and it is your privilege to enjoy the blessings of it. But as a result, the praise and thanksgiving praise and thanksgiving demanded of us in Psalm 118 becomes very specific, does it not?

Informed by the most substantive content. For this psalm has no interest in the praise-for-praise-sake mentality. It has no interest in vacuous and empty-headed praise. It is not interested in spontaneous exuberance that is completely contactless. It is not interested in the praise as therapy approach to religious worship. It has no interest in that whatsoever.

For the psalmist, the praise, the joy, the gladness, the thanksgiving prescribed is specifically bound to a specific event, the event of this establishment and hallowing of God’s house in which he is exalted, in which he is enthroned. The day which the Lord has made is specifically the day in which he has made for his people a habitation, a sanctuary, a day in which he has revealed his might and his sovereignty.

And it is in this day that the Lord’s true do in fact rejoice and are in fact glad. It is this day in God’s accomplishment and brings the doubt that provides the content for the confession with which the psalm both begins and ends. The Lord is good. His lovingkindness or his covenantal faithfulness is confirmed as unfailing because he has overseen and brought to completion the construction of his victory house, his temple.

The psalmist here isn’t any more interested in abstract attributes of God than he is in the abstract praise. both his contemplation of the divine nature, God’s goodness is faithfulness, and his calls for worshippers to give thanks, are united in his appreciation for what God has done, and that specifically. We are dealing here with the God of Israel, who has done specific things, who has acted in a specific way. who has accomplished his redemption for his people definitively and historically. That is the God we are interested in, and it is by way of his actions that he has revealed his attributes.

Therefore, you build your theology not upon a philosophical reflection of God’s attributes of him as he is in himself. You build your theology upon a reflection upon what God has done, what he has accomplished, the manner in which he has revealed himself in the concrete actions that he has performed in history. Christianity, biblical religion, is event-centered religion. It is not idea-centered religion. We are not in the business here of doing religious philosophy. We are in the business of worshiping the God who is active, who in his actions has revealed his nature. But what is it that brings God’s goodness and his lovingkindness to light?

I have already let the cat out of the bag. But truly, the movement within the psalm is going to impress this upon you as you move from that fifth verse onward through the psalm. It will impress upon you the means God uses to show himself both good and faithful. Admittedly, you may find these verses somewhat less than immediately transparent. For instance, you look at verse 10 and its words, All nations surrounded me, and you scratch her head.

When exactly did that happen in the experience of an Israelite? Aren’t we exaggerating a little bit here? You’re beginning to think that this fellow obviously is a victim of acute paranoia. He seems to be taking his own personal experience and conferring upon it the most melodramatic and grandiose significance. Further, with his repeated statements that, yes, he personally will cut off or destroy these very nations that have surrounded him, again you might be liable to think that he has given way to hyperbole, exaggeration, overblown estimation of himself. It seems to be at work in him here, an overblown estimation of himself, as if he were the Lord’s own avenging angel. Then there is that enigmatic statement in verse 22 that may have confounded you a little bit, because in the course, in the run of the psalm, you weren’t quite sure as to how it fit in.

What’s it doing here? The stone which the builders rejected has become the teeth cornerstone. What’s that all about? However, there are some clues for us as to what is going on here, and I call your attention to verses 14-16, verses that will find some connection to verse 28.

These verses, 14-16, explicit portions of them have been actually lifted from elsewhere in scripture. Do you know where? You may recall these words. They come from Exodus 15. They are lifted right out of Exodus 15 and the song of Moses, the song of the sons of Israel, when God saved them from the Egyptians. You can find these words in Exodus 15 verses 2 and 6. And I said that there is reference to verse 28, you are my God, I will give thanks to you, you are my God, I will extol you. Yes, this is also found in Exodus 15 verse 2.

Do you see what the psalmist is doing? The psalmist will not speak of himself in isolation. He will not express himself as in isolation from the rest of salvation history, from the history of the people of God, any more than he will speak abstractly about God and abstractly about the praise that is due unto the Lord. The pressure at work on the psalmist is that he would read his own deliverance, whatever that might be. In terms of the definitive deliverance, God has worked on behalf of his people as a whole.

There is a religious act going on in the course of this psalm. This man, as he expresses himself, is actually giving up his life into an identity with the entirety of the people of God and their history. He is giving his life away. That’s what’s happening here. Now, I have said it to you before, I have said it to you often.

This will find its reflex in the Apostle Paul, as he is determined not to read his life as one who is an individual with a sacrosanct individual life of religiosity. No, no. As if his own religious psychology was the thing about which Christianity was concerned. Not at all.

The Apostle Paul will constrain himself to read his life in terms of those acts which God has performed for the sake of all his people. Therefore, the Apostle will say, when Christ died, I died. When Christ was raised, I was raised. He will give up his life in an identity with Christ, and God’s saving act. The Apostle Paul is true to the genius of biblical religion. Oh, but we have more like him.

But here it is expressed in the psalmist many years prior to Paul. Once more, the psalmist will not speak of himself in isolation, as if he is a mere individual. He will not speak of himself in isolation to the entirety of the history of redemption, the history of the people of God, any more than he speaks abstractly about God, or abstractly about the praise that is due unto the Lord.

The pressure at work in the psalmist is to read his own deliverance in terms of the definitive deliverance. God has worked on behalf of his people as a whole. That’s the significance of the reference to the exodus. This means that the personal singular pronoun I in the psalm becomes more than individual, it becomes plural, it becomes corporate, in the sense that it includes now all Israel. By using it, the psalmist will take all the faithful to himself, and they will be gathered to him, as they, as one man, are situated in the event of Israel’s passing. It doesn’t matter how far the psalmist is removed from the Exodus event.

He speaks as if he were there. This past deliverance is subsequently projected into the later history of Israel, inclusive of the period of the rebellion in the wilderness against Moses. of the period of the Judges, when the people of God were regularly rebellious, inclusive of the period of the Exiles, when God’s judgment came crashing down upon the people of Judah. So that the psalmist says in a collective voice, in more than an individual tone, the Lord has disciplined me severely. But he has not given me over unto death.” Verse 18. Instead of death, the psalmist has left. Instead of death, the people of God live and declare his works. Verse 17.

The consequence of this is now the gracious welcome by God. Understand it, the gracious welcome by God and the bold approach of his people on the basis of that grace to enter into the glorious gates of righteousness, verse 19, into the very gate of God, verse 20. It is after Sinai and the rebellion at Sinai that God built his sanctuary. and then welcomes his people to it. It is after the period of the judges that God builds his temple within Jerusalem and then welcomes his people to it. It is after the exile and the devastations of the sin of the people of God prior to that exile, that God restores his temple and then graciously welcomes his people into his very own sanctuary. What a God is this! Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.

Can we confess anything less? He is good, and his loving kindness, his mercy, is everlasting, is it not ever? We who were rebellious, we who were sinners, we who are joined to that company in the wilderness with all the rebellious tribe in the time of the judges, with Judah itself in all of its sin, we now are welcomed into the sanctuary of God by his gracious invitation and provision. What right do I have there?

You begin to see how content-specific But so great a victory has God won for us in our salvation, as it is extended and confirmed in the establishment of his throne in his sanctuary. So great a victory is this that it is viewed now in the psalm in the most comprehensive terms, it projects itself into the final day, the day of the Lord. In which all of the nations are assembled against the Lord and his anointed, all of the nations that day in which the Lord himself will rise to slay the wicked who have opposed him, and enlist the help of the righteous, the elect whom he has redeemed, they judging even angels.” But it must not be overlooked in all of this that this victory, and the accompanying praise for God in it, are not irrespective of the confession from the people of God that they have been party to that rebellion by which God’s principal building block has been rejected.

The enigmatic verse 22. It may well be that we find pattern for this rejection. in the experiences of Moses as he is rejected by the people of God, you may recall, during the period of the Judges as the Judges themselves are subjected to persecution, in the time of David when he is the object of persecution and pursuit, the Prophets themselves, as they are rejected and their message with them, that all of these, yes, share an identity in the rejected principle gaining block in view. What is important to see is that the victory now experienced is inseparable from the vindication and exaltation of that rejected stone to the place of the chief cornerstone. The pattern laid here before you in Psalm 118 is not then a piece of Old Testament reflection. It is not just a recounting of Old Testament history, exodus to exile, with which the psalmist sees himself thoroughly identified.

Rather, it is that history for the people of God in the most comprehensive sense, on the most universal scale, inclusive of all of God’s people, even unto the final judgment. The thanksgiving and gladness expressed by the psalmist, called for on our behalf, is expressly focused now on the Lord’s salvation, His deliverance of His people, by which those people are brought into the sanctuary of the Lord, a sanctuary established upon the very one that the people of God had in fact rejected.

And that rejected one, that rejected stone, the Lord Jesus Christ, has become the chief cornerstone. In the end, it is revealed that Jesus Christ is the voice that we hear in the psalm itself, the one thoroughly identified with his people even in their sin. but as well he is the rejected stone who is God’s chief cornerstone in an enduring sanctuary, a throne room of triumph for God over all, a triumph such that the salvation of the people of God is included in the exaltation of the rejected stone. And that’s why you rejoice. and you are glad about the resurrection, and why that resurrection is at the very center of your confession and your identity as believers. It now is possible to see God’s entire purpose, not Israel alone but the church of all ages. And Jesus Christ, the rejected stone, now the chief cornerstone, laid by God’s gracious hand, in a redemption that can’t be outclassed, beyond which there is no other salvation. The purpose of it is to bring you into the final sanctuary of God, and I tell you, there is no other sanctuary than that one in which Christ himself appears as the chief cornerstone. I trust you know that, and because you do, you are able to sing this psalm as no Jew could. Let’s pray. Lord, we ask that you might be merciful continually to us, that we might realize the full range of the words and the intent of

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.