Osborne, Bernard: Men's Study-26 ~ The Messianic Psalms

And so, our Father, we come to the last evening of our time together, and we would render to you our thanks for all your mercies and help to us. And we pray for those who even now are traveling home, and we pray you to take them safely. And for those who later this evening will be traveling, we pray traveling mercies to them also. But for us in these, this next hour or so, we just look to you for your help and blessing, as once again we open thy word and learn of the things concerning himself. Help us, O Lord, we pray. In his name we ask. Amen. We're going to read Psalm hundred and eighteen. Psalm hundred and eighteen. All give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, because his mercy endureth forever. That Israel now say that his mercy endureth forever, that the house of Aaron now say that his mercy endureth forever. Let them now that fear the Lord say that his mercy endureth forever. I called upon the Lord in distress, the Lord answered me and set me in a large place. That, uh, is the same translation of that simply as he redeemed me, delivered me. The Lord is on my side, I will not fear. What can man do unto me? The Lord taketh my part to them that help me, therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me. It's better to trust in the man, in the Lord, than to put confidence in man. It's better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. All nations compass me about, but in the name of the Lord will I destroy them. They compass me about, yea, they compass me about, but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. They cometh me about like these, they're cranks of the fire of thorns, in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might fall, but the Lord help me. The Lord is my strength and song, and is become my salvation. The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous. The right hand of the Lord doth doeth valiantly. The right hand of the Lord, 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 has 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 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 hast become my salvation. The stone which the builders refused has become the headstone 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. 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. God is the Lord which has showed us light, bind the sacrifice with cords, even to the horns of the altar. Thout my God, and I will praise thee. Thout my God, I will exalt thee. All give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, and his mercy endureth forever. What Psalm 117, uh, says at the end in the, uh, last verse is interesting. Only two verses in Psalm one hundred and seventeen, but it's interesting because you notice what it says endueth. In the last phrase of Psalm one hundred and seventeen, it tells us that the truth of the Lord endureth forever. When you open Psalm one hundred and eighteen, you will notice what it says of its sister, grace, for it goes on to say that his gracious mercy endureth forever. So Psalm one hundred and seventeen, his truth endures forever. Psalm one hundred and eighteen, his mercy endures forever. Now this is the last of the group of psalms, which is called the Hallel Psalms. The Hallel Psalms extend from one hundred and thirteen through two hundred and eighteen, and they were repeated by the Jews at their festivals. Now, this psalm could have been composed for the Feast of Tabernacles. Uh, there is reference to tents in the psalm, uh, the tents of Israel we read about. Um, it's, uh, the words of verse twenty five, uh, were sung during this feast, uh, when the priests came up from the pool of Siloam where they'd gone down to get water, and they climbed the mountain singing the words of the Hallel, and when they came into the temple and pulled the water out before the altar, they sang the words of verse twenty five: Save now our besiegedly, O Lord, O uh Lord, uh, our besiegedly, send now prosperity. And together with that, they sang the words of Isaiah chapter twelve. Uh, then of course the, uh, there are fragments in this particular sound found in other parts of the scripture, found particularly in the book of of Chronicles, and it would appear that they would have been used by David's choir at the celebration connected with the establishment, uh, of the ark in Mount Zion. That is the suggestion of, uh, someone. However, it depends when this psalm was written, and many people think that this psalm was written to commemorate the return, uh, from, um, from Babylon. In that case, it could well have been sung when the temple, the post-captivity temple, was, uh, uh, was w- was celebrated, its opening was celebrated, and eh, that will be found in Ezra chapter three. The psalm, however, has another, had another function, and it was this. When I said it was sung at the feast of the Jews, the one at which, uh, we know that it was sung particularly was the feast of Passover, and this would have been sung at the night in which the Lord Jesus was betrayed. And in fact, in Mark's gospel and Matthew's gospel, you will read that it says, and when they had sung a hymn, they went out. And the last one to s- to be sung at the close of the Passover was this particular one. So it, uh, is almost certain that when they left, they would have sung this, this particular psalm. That makes it very poignant and moving when you read the words of this psalm. I- it's, uh, earlier in this week we were talking about certain psalms, and they were all, uh, uh, they were psal- all to be sung, but there was a s- there were certain psalms which were called processional psalms, that is, the pilgrims, when they moved to Jerusalem, uh, they would sing them on the way. And we looked at Psalm twenty four, and Psalm twenty four was, uh, in all probability, a processional psalm used when they brought the ark up to Jerusalem. Well, this too is a processional psalm, and it was intended to be used by the worshippers as they made their way to the temple in a time of national rejoicing, such as a feast time. And so in that case, this is how it could have gone. They would have sung the first four verses as they started, as the process- procession started on its way, down in Jerusalem somewhere, uh, or down in the lower parts in David's city, whatever. They would have sung the first four verses. Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. Let Israel now say that his mercy endureth forever, and so on. That might well have been repeated a number of times. And then, uh, the words from verse five down to eighteen would ring out to the greater part of the psalm as they made their way to the temple. And that tells us all sorts of things in the psalm there, you will notice. Uh, but when they got to the temple gates, they would sing verse nineteen, words of challenge open to me, the gates of righteousness, I'll go into them, and I will praise the Lord. So they would sing that outside the gates of the temple. Inside, uh, uh, there would be a responding voice, maybe a priest who would, uh, who would be detailed to, to the responses, and, um, he would say in response, um, concerning the, the gates of the temple, he would respond that this gate of the Lord into which the righteous shall enter. And so he was underlining the fact that the people who entered into the temple had to be qualified in the sense that they had to be righteous. So he would, uh, sing that. It's rather like Psalm um thirty four when you read, who shall ascend to the hill of the Lord? He who has clean hands. And so that would be the response of the priests here. Uh, then, of course, the gates, uh, uh, the, uh, they would sing outside, I will praise thee, for thou hast heard me, not become my salvation. So the gates would have been opened, and then they go on to sing from verse twenty one down to verse five. ending with saved, I beseech thee, O Lord, O Lord, I beseech thee, and there will be a final chorus with a large number of verses. So the, it was a processional song, and it would have, it would have been used by pilgrims as they proceeded through Jerusalem. Now, what we're going to do, first of all, in the first session, is we're going to look at this psalm and just look at it in a straightforward way, see what it has to say to us. And in the second session, I will, which will be much more brief, we will look at it and see its messianic value, see if we can see what it has to say from a messianic point of view. So let's now notice how this psalm starts. It says in verse one, all give thanks unto the Lord. Now remember the picture. Here's a group of pilgrims, and they're making their way through Jerusalem, and they all sing together, all give thanks to the Lord. You know, it's right that we should encourage one another in praising God. And we have so much to praise him for. And so these were, uh, he was a call then to praise him. And there are two reasons given for their praise. And these are the two reasons. For he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. So the two reasons for their praise are now given. He is good. And the psalmist elsewhere, you remember, says, oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. And in fact, this particular truth that he is good is something which you and I need to hold fast onto, particularly when everything seems to be going contrary to us. It is good to remember that things, when things are not going right, that we've got a good, a God who is essentially good. And so we say, even in the trials of life, he is good, our God is good. But secondly, it says his mercy endureth forever. Now, the word mercy is an interesting word because it's the word hesed, and it's a word which is found in the Old Testament on a number of occasions, a very valuable word in the Old Testament, found very largely in the, for instance, in the prophecy of Hosea, and it, it means loving kindness. In fact, you find it elsewhere translated loving kindness, but it is translated other than that. It's translated mercy, translated otherwise. And what it means is covenant mercy, mercy which is guaranteed to us by God. And that mercy is shown to us in many acts of goodness. So now the psalmist, having made this statement in the first four verses and told us that God is good, and his goodness is seen in his mercy, in his many acts of mercy, is now going to tell us what those acts are. And so we can go down to the psalm now to see what those acts are. And so the first one I want to look at is his goodness and his mercy in protection, and that takes us down to verses one to thirteen. His Goodness and mercy in protection. And so you read, as you look at this particular part, uh, of the, o- o- o- of the, of the psalm, how he says, I called upon the Lord in distress. And so the first thing we notice is his protection during distress. That's the first one. You know, I suppose if you were to look for incidences, in- in- instances in the New Testament when people are in distress, one of the occasions where, uh, which would come to mind would be the story of Mary and Martha. And you'll remember that they were in distress, and, uh, because their brother Lazarus was dying, and they called upon the Lord. This is the right thing. They called, uh, upon him and simply told him what was the problem, and that's the right thing to do when we're in distress. And if you remember the story, it was very remarkable that the Lord didn't answer immediately. He didn't go up, stayed where he was, stayed for another two or days, uh, and he delayed his answer. And so sometimes when we're in distress, we might well be prepared or understand that the Lord might not give to us an immediate answer, and he might delay that answer. But if he does, the answer will come in the right time, and it will be, uh, for particular, uh, reasons. Now, in John chapter eleven, where it is, you are told what the reasons are. And the Lord Jesus says, you know, I, I, I didn't go up straight away, um, in order that you might believe. Did they believe? Of course they believed. They believed in him. So what does he mean when he tells them in order that, that they might, uh, believe? Uh, in other words, he was im- im- implying it was for their good. Well, now, if he had gone out and raised the sick man from a bed of sickness, he didn't do that before. But to go out and to raise the man from the dead, who was four days dead and his body was corrupted, was a greater incentive to their faith and demonstrated that here was the one who was the resurrection and the life, and there were no bounds to his power. And so their faith could be strengthened. So it was for their good. And then the second thing which he said was, uh, this is, this is unto death, but for the glory of God. Read chapter eleven of John, and you'll notice the glory of God occurs on some time, on more than one occasion. Didn't I say to you that if you would believe, he says to Martha, that you would see the glory of God? He talks about the Son of Man being, the Son of God being glorified thereby. So when he performed the miracle, it demonstrated again his amazing power and pointed once more to the fact that God was among them. It was for his glory. You know, sometimes when we're in distress and God delays the answer, we might encourage our heart that he's teaching us something, and the ultimate end will be for our good. And in it being for our good, we will not forget it will also be for his glory. And so you have two things here. But anyway, let me just use that as an illustration. But then it says, and he set me in a large place. Now that's, uh, that that's, uh, um, uh, doesn't really tell us too much, but what it simply means is he set me free. He delivered me. So this, this, uh, psalmist was in distress, and the Lord delivered him. Now notice verses six and seven. The Lord is on my side, or as, excuse me, as the margin says, the Lord is for me. I will not fear, what can man do unto me? Uh, and when you read that verse, you will remember, of course, that that particular verse is found twice, at least, in the New Testament, at least there are references to it. And the reference which comes up most obviously to our mind is that which is found in Hebrews chapter thirteen. And in Hebrews chapter thirteen, the translation in the, in, in the He- in, in the Epistle to the Hebrews is just that little bit different. And, uh, what it does say there is, uh, it, it says, if God is my helper, I will not fear what man can do unto me. It doesn't ask the question, it tells us that because God is his helper, is on his side, he will not fear what man can do unto him. How does he know that God's on his side? Because the previous verse has told him that God will never leave him nor forsake him, and he has that assurance. Now, when you come to the Epistle of the Romans, you, you find it again. And in the Epistle of the Romans, it says, if God be for us. That's the phrase here. That's what is in the, what they chart in the margin, Hebrew translation. If God be for us. There's no doubt about it in the word if. Sometimes the word if is used in the New Testament, not to suggest, uh, doubtfulness or doubt. It can be translated since. Since God is for us, who can be against us? It's the same sort of, it's the same person you've got here. And then you might ask the question, well, that's okay saying that, but when I go to work on Monday morning, my, I, uh, I go into the, into the staff room as I would have gone in, and there will be people who will be against me, have no time for my Christian faith, and so on. And so what does he mean? Well, of course, he means that they not be against us and succeed. But Lord, I want more than that. I want some proof that he's for me. And then Paul says, you want proof that he's for you? Listen, I'll give you the greatest proof of all. Since God be for us, who could be against us? He that spared not his own son. What greater proof could you need of God being for you than that? He didn't spare his own son. And so here you have this verse stated here. God is on my side. The Lord is for me. I will not fear what man can do unto me. So, if you have God on your side, you needn't fear. Of course, you must be on his side too, but once God and the poor saints is there on the same side, then victory is certain. So, first of all, then, protect him in distress. Protection secondly, in disappointment. Now, notice what he says next of all, next to our two, and the next point in verse eight. It's better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. Right. It's better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. Why did he say princes? Well, he is saying that because even the princes, the best of men, the most powerful of men, may let us down. But one thing is certain, that God will never let us down. We might be disappointed in our fellow men. We might be disappointed in the best of men. We might be disappointed sometimes even in our fellow Christians. But I tell you what, he'll never be a disappointment to us, never. And the, um, reason for that is that it tells us in the Epistle of Pete, uh, of Timothy that he, uh, will, he remains faithful. He cannot deny himself. He cannot act contrary to his character. Men may change, to the hymn, you do not remember the old hymn? Men may change, but Jesus never, glory to his name. And then thirdly, it protects him under danger. And here we have the danger stressed in verse ten down to thirteen. All nations cometh me about, cometh me about, they cometh me about. And so you have danger. Uh, but you will notice the repetition. In the name of the Lord, I will destroy them. So the victory is not gained by his own power or his own ability, but it's gained through the Lord. In the great name of the Lord, I will destroy them. So those, the dangers that threaten, uh, are removed by the Lord himself, destroyed by the Lord himself. You know, when you think of this, and the probability is that this psalm was written after the return from Babylon, uh, and that's the greatest sort of consensus opinion on this particular psalm. When you think of it, I wonder if the psalm had in mind, uh, another historical instance which is found in the, uh, in in the book of of Isaiah. You remember chapters thirty five and thirty six have to do with the invasion of the Assyrian army and the surrounding of Jerusalem, its siege, and the threatened slaughter and and capture by the Assyrian army. That would be enough to strike dread into anyone's heart, and one to understand how Hezekiah was so terrified because the Assyrians were probably the most cruel of invaders ever. Um, you've, uh, if you read the annals of their history, you find that they did the most cruel things, even to skinning people alive. I don't know how they did it, but they did it, and that was, uh, it's one of the expressions of the, o- o- of their, uh, of their cruel thing. But supposing we just think of the, the possibility is that he has this in mind. And you'll remember the story of Hezekiah, and do you remember what Hezekiah did? He received, um, threats from, from a man called Rabshakeh, well, that was his title, outside the walls, who said, well, you know, you've got no chance to survive, and he told the inhabitants of that not to trust in Hezekiah, not to trust in Jehovah, and so on. And eventually, a letter was sent to Hezekiah demanding surrender. And Hezekiah took the letter, and he spread it out before the Lord. And he said, look, Lord, what are you gonna do about that? What can you do for us about that matter? You know, it's always the best thing to take it to the Lord. Always the best thing. Ask him what he's going to do about it. And of course, you remember that though these na- this nation was about, around about them, and this language would have been true of Hezek- of of Hezekiah in this occasion in Jerusalem, all nations compassed me about him. In fact, it was in the Assyrians, but they compassed him about and surrounded Jerusalem. But in the name of the Lord, they were destroyed. In a very mar- marvelous way, God sent out one angel, and one hundred and eighty five thousand men were destroyed in one night. And so he says, well, no, I've got protection in danger as well. Now let's have a, uh, see what his next heading is. His mercy is great in provision. Verses fourteen to sixteen. His mercy is great in provision. And what I want to look at particularly is the verse 14. Now, verse fourteen is an interesting verse, isn't it? Because what it says is, the Lord is my strength and song and has become my salvation. So those of you who are keen on putting, uh, alliteration down, you already got it. You didn't worry too much about it. You've got alliteration in the verb. Spread song salvation. There it is, already made for you. Um, now, this is very interesting particular statement here because it's found elsewhere. It's found, first of all, in Exodus chapter fifteen. And in Exodus chapter fifteen, what has happened is that Israel been brought from Egypt and have come to the Red Sea, the way has been made to the Red Sea. And Israel on the other side of it sing. And when they sing, what do they sing? They sing this. They sing that the Lord is my strength and song and has become my salvation. Exactly that. And now the psalmist is singing just the same thing. The Lord is my strength and song and has become my salvation. And you will read the same thing in Isaiah chapter twelve in a passage which refers to that day, and they will sing it then. Basically, uh, they're looking back to Israel's greatest deliverance, and what they're implying in this is that the God who delivered them from Egypt and brought them with by power through the Red Sea is still their deliverer. And what he has done in the past, he is able to do again in the present, and yet again and again. His power hasn't changed. So look at the provision which he makes for them. First of all, myself, and we take them in this order, my salvation, my strength, my song. My salvation, well, that's the essential thing. My strength, that's the everyday thing. My song, that's the extra thing. My salvation, the essential thing. Now, the salvation is returned to again, uh, in verse sixteen, um, the right hand of the Lord, and it's speaking of salvation when it speaks of the right hand of the Lord is exalted. But salvation is the essential thing. Uh, and it's the right hand of the Lord which achieves it, and the right hand speaks of the power of God. Christ crucified is the power of God, and that achieves salvation for us. You ask me what you challenge when I read this particular statement that salvation is the essential thing. I know it's essential for us, and we'd be lost without it. But sometimes, somehow, Christian parents tend to forget what are the priorities in life and what are the essential things in life. And when they think of their children, very often, what becomes the primary thing in life and the essential thing in life is their career or their education. I want to tell you that career and education and a good marriage and a good home and all that sort of thing are not the essential things in life. The essential thing in life is for your child to know Jesus Christ as Savior. That's the essential thing. I'm very glad my, both my children, who I prayed for from the moment they were born, I'm sure you did as well, for years, trusted the Lord Jesus when they were very young. That's the essential thing. And then there's the everyday thing, of course, because once I'm saved, I need something to enable me to live the Christian life because I can't live in my own strength. And, uh, uh, without him I can do nothing. Part from me, says Lord Jesus, you can do nothing. I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me. Yeah, that's true. But there is a condition which is involved, because if I seek to do things in my own strength, I won't succeed. And the Apostle Paul learned that lesson, and he writes about it in two Corinthians twelve. and he says, you know, I went through an experience when I was caught up to the third heaven. I had visions which surpassed anything anyone else had, and I, I could have become high-minded, could have become proud. And what happened, the Lord sent the thorn in the flesh, some excruciating physical thing which made him feel his own weakness. It was so painful, he asked the Lord to remove it, and the Lord said, no, not remove it. Tell you what, I'll give you compensating grace. My grace will be sufficient for you. And Paul felt desperately his weakness. And then the Lord said, you know, I'm not taking it from you, but the habits of traveling days are done because, listen, Paul, my strength is made perfect in weakness. And if we want to be strong and know the strength of, uh, of which he's talking here, and to be able to cope with everyday living, we need to be conscious that in ourselves we are so desperately weak because his power is made perfect only in weakness. And then of course there's something, there's the extra thing, my song, something to sing about. And, of course, we've already read a psalm, uh, a messianic psalm, which talked about that. And just like the one in the psalm speaks about, we too have had our feet taken out of the mighty clay and the, and the pit, and our feet have been set upon a rock, and our joints have been established, and a new song has been put in our heart, even praise unto our God. Christians should be a singing people, you know. We should sing. Uh, and uh, a new song is put into our lips. But that's the third thing in which he, uh, speaks about the God being merciful. In providence, in providence. Now let's, uh, look down a little bit, uh, to what he has to say here, verses seventeen and eighteen, in providence, and he says, I shall not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord. The Lord has taken me forth, but he's not given me over to death. So he's talking now about God's actions. Shall not die, but live. You know, when I read that, there is a little passage that comes into my mind in the prophecy of Habakkuk. And in the prophecy of Habakkuk, it's just like, uh, a repetition of what I said a bit earlier. There is a, a, the threat of an invader. Now, it hasn't, the invader hasn't appeared yet, but the Habakkuk has been told that an invader, the Chaldeans, are going to come and devastate the land. And these invaders, the Chaldeans, are irresistible. No point in trying to put up your defenses, it's not going to be any use. But they're also unholy, uh, and they are idolatrous, and they worship their dragnet and their weapons of war, and they are thoroughly evil. And, says Habakkuk, Lord, how can you do this? How can you, a holy God, use instruments which are so thoroughly unholy? How can you do that? And you know, sometimes there are moral problems, and you think, well, you know, why is the Lord doing this? What's the answer to that? And one of the things which can happen is you can use that particular problem, and it can come between you and the Lord and can drive you further away from him. Or you can say, well, Lord, I don't understand this, but I'm going to state what I believe about you, and I'm going to hold fast to what I know about you. And Habakkuk does just that. And he, he says, uh, you're a pure eyes of your own iniquity, so he says you're holy. Uh, he says you're Almighty God, so you're all powerful. He refers to the Jehovah, so he's all sufficient and absolute. He refers to him as eternal. But then he says, we shall not die. Just like the psalmist says here. Ah, well, this great army was going to come, take them all off into captivity. In fact, there were three invasions against them, and off they were carted, and many of them died. What does he mean, we shall not die? He wasn't speaking of a- of himself, he said we. He was speaking of a nation. And what he meant was, as a nation, they wouldn't perish. Why? Because God had made covenants with that nation, and those covenants had not yet been fully fulfilled, and they would be fulfilled because he believed his God was faithful, and realizing that, he said, we're not going to die because God is faithful, and his covenants and his promise are without change of mind, and they will be fulfilled. And so, the psalmist here, facing, uh, these problems, uh, looks at God's providence, and it's, he speaks of the nation, and what he is saying is that God will not permit his people to perish. Well, it's all right if we look at Israel and say that about Israel, but of course we need a bit of comfort here ourselves, don't we? And in, i- i- and and the word of God gives us that, because the word of God tells us that the Good Shepherd has us in his hand, and no one will ever pluck us out of his hand. We have a Father has us in his hand, and no one plucks us out of his Father's hand. And the Apostle Paul backs it up, writing by the Spirit of God, to say that nothing can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. So we will never perish. We believed in Christ, and those who believe in him will never, never perish. Uh, but of course, in this, in this providence of God, chastening may come. And in verse we he talked about chastening. The Lord has chastened me sore, but he's not given me up to death. So this man experienced chastening. Uh, I was pointing out the other night that according to the, or the day according to Hebrews twelve, chastening h- has a value in Christian's life. It demonstrates to him that he's a child of God, because no one would chasten anyone who was not a son of his, says the writer of the Hebrews. And says the writer of the Hebrews, rather than being a, a, an, an indication of his delight of, dislike of the child, it is an indication that the father loves the child and has in mind his, his best interest. And what's more, if we're exercised by it, we will produce the peaceable fruits of righteousness. Well, now they've gone up and the procession have reached the gates. So now we're there at verse nineteen and we're at the gates, and the singers desire entrance into the temple, uh, and they describe the gates as the gates of righteousness. That's because they've come to the abode, as far as the earthly Buddha is concerned, of the righteous God. He dwells within the temple there, uh, in the minds of the totem. Uh, Jeremiah, when he refers to the temple, he speaks of it as the habitation of justice and the mountain of his holiness. That's how he refers to it. And from there, God manifested his righteousness in the salvation of his people, uh, wilderness, and uh, he by sending help from the sanctuary and strength out of Zion. So the procession seeks to enter. But a voice from within tells them of the condition of entry. These gates are righteous. God within is righteous. And the gates are called gates of righteousness because a righteous condition of heart and mind is required if they're going to enter there. And we went and described this, uh, the other day when we were looking at Psalm twenty four. And so the profession enters the temple and receives a priestly blessing. Verses twenty one and twenty two. Uh, I will praise thee, for thou hast heard me and become my salvation. And then they sing the verses which follow. Uh, and of course, ultimately, you end with the same verse as you start. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. Now, this psalm, I said, was sung on Passover night, and uh, it would have been sung by the Lord Jesus and his disciples before, or as they left the room. Matthew twenty six and Mark fourteen describe that, and it says, and when they'd sung a hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives. And it's interesting to notice that, because here we have then some of the things which must have filled the Savior's heart and been on his lips on the very brink of his crucifixion. Interesting to notice that. And you know, what is interesting is this, that as the Lord faced death and crucifixion, the song of triumph was on his lips. He exalted in the glory beyond the gloom. Uh, only the faith of him who is the author and finisher of faith could really sing such a song of promised glory while descending into the horrors of Gethsemane and Calvary. But you notice the last verses of this song do point on to his glory. Now, we we may sing happily sometimes a chorus, uh, This is the day that the Lord is made. It's one of these modern choruses, and uh, of course we brew a swing, and we sing it very happily. Let me say this. That it's a little bit sobering to realize that that would have been sung from this psalm as the Lord Jesus descended from the higher reaches of the city down to the Garden of Gethsemane. This is the day that the Lord has made. It was the day he was going to suffer, and he continues to say, let us rejoice and be glad in it. And his voice must have been strong to have sung that, because for him it was going to be a day of infinite suffering and untold sorrow. It was in a very special sense, the way day the Lord had made. In due time, the due time which Christ the Lamb foreordained before the foundation of the world, would be crucified, the hour which had come for his passion. Yet he would rejoice because for him it was the Father's will, and his voice must have been strong to sing, Thou art my God, and I will exalt thee. Because the next time he would refer to his father under the terms of my God would be when in infinite anguish upon the cross he cried, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? So then, let's look as we draw this part to a close to the... Henry, you have failed in your duty and I'm disappointed in you. The first figure then which he uses is that of the rejected stone, verse 22, the stone which the builders refused is becoming, is become the headstone of the corner. So you will notice that he starts with a rejection, the stone which the builders refused, but he looks beyond his rejection to the triumph. It's become the headstone of the corner. Now, it's, it's a word the Lord Jesus quoted near to his rejection and death. You find it in Matthew chapter twenty one, uh, when the beloved son and heir will be cast into the vineyard and killed, and the son lies dead in the streets, in the vineyard. And in a parable, because of the limits of what you can do in a parable, you couldn't raise the son. So he uses another figure, and he picks in a brings another figure, and he says, don't you have ever read this? You think you finished him down there? Haven't you ever read this? The stone which the builders rejected has become the headstone of the corner. So he changes the figure, but points out that beyond the tragedy there was going to be glory. Yes. Yeah, there is. The rabbis have a story about that, uh, which you probably have in the back of your mind. And the story, the binicual see a tradition about that is that when they were building the temple, uh, from the quarries, there came up a stone which the builders looked at, and it didn't fit in anywhere. And so they rejected it or disallowed it and threw it away. And later, as the building near completion, um, there was once the the stone which was needed to complete its glory, the top stone, and they couldn't find it in the quarries, and uh they made search for it, and they found the stone which the builders had rejected and thrown away was the one which fitted it in. And so in telling that the Psalmist quotes this, and this is one, one of the things which makes it appear to be a Psalm later than David. Um, but the, the biblical tradition was that, and of course the fact is that the, the, the Psalmist, um, uh, quotes it here, and the Lord quotes it in the New Testament, and the, and in fact, it's four times in the New Testament you'll find it because Peter uses it, uh, uh, um, twice, and uh, and the Lord uses it, and there are four references. Incidentally, different translations each time of the word disavow are rejected, so it's interesting to pick up all the different translations. Uh, so there it is, the, the rejected stone, and it was become the head of the corner. And they weren't allowed to forget the lesson of that day.