November 24, 2024 | Loved, Safe, and Thankful | Psalm 118

Transcript:

This morning, we're going to take a few minutes and look at Psalm 118. As we do that, children, if you're headed out to the door to children's church, you're welcome to go ahead and go out. You're also welcome to stay in here with us. We love to have you here.

We come to a holiday like Thanksgiving, and, and there are many ways to engage with Thanksgiving or to think about it. Perhaps some years we, we zoom past in busyness. And maybe we, we view it as basically a day off, and good food. Hopefully pleasant memories with family, maybe sometimes not so pleasant.

Perhaps we approach it in a way that's not really Christian, not distinctly Christian. Maybe we celebrate Thanksgiving, but it's really not more than recognizing that gratitude is a virtue. That someone who is habitually thankful is generally a much more bearable person to be around. So we may think, well, I want to be thankful like that. I don't want to not have this virtue in my life. And so maybe we approach Thanksgiving in a way that's not obviously Christian.

It may fit with Christian values, but I hope your desire is that when you think about gratitude, you would want to be thankful in a way that doesn't just fit with the world's ideas of virtues. But that you want to be thankful in a way that truly reflects what we've been thinking on this morning and what Christ has done for us.

And so we're going to enter alongside the writer of Psalm 118, and I want us to think about what makes gratitude truly Christian. What are the roots of that kind of gratitude? What robs us of that kind of gratitude?

One of the beautiful things the Psalms do is they teach us how to, how to feel, how to engage with our whole being, our mind, our will, and our emotions with what God has told us. As one of the church fathers, Athanasius said, He said, the other scriptures speak to us, the Psalms speak for us. They teach us a language with which we can go to God. We can cry out and lament. We can rejoice. We can praise. We can be grateful. We can do all of these things in the language of the Psalms.

So another way to frame the whole question this morning is how do we engage our whole beings with thankfulness? Not just our words. I'm not interested in how to paint on thankfulness on the outside of my life. That's kind of like nailing apples onto a coat rack and calling it a healthy apple tree. That's not what we want.

We want to know is how do I have the kind of whole person response to God that overflows with gratitude.

So we're going to see what the Psalmist says in Psalm 118.

Oh, give thanks to the Lord for he is good for his steadfast love endures forever. Let Israel say, His steadfast love endures forever. Let the house of Aaron say, His steadfast love endures forever. Let those who fear the Lord say, His steadfast love endures forever. Out of my distress, I called on the Lord.

The Lord answered me and set me free. The Lord is on my side. I will not fear. What can man do to me? The Lord is on my side as my helper. I shall look in triumph on those who hate me. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.

We'll come back to this middle section, skip down to verse 19. Open to me the gates of righteousness. That I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord. The righteous shall enter through it. I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

This is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Save us. We pray, Oh Lord, Oh Lord, we pray. Give us success. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord. The Lord is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us.

Bind the festal sacrifice with cords up to the horns of the altar. You are my God, and I will give thanks to you. You are my God, I will extol you. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever.

Let's ask God for His help. God, you said in another psalm that all who love your salvation will say, Great is the Lord. So Father, today help us to love your salvation more and help us to respond with worship. And gratitude. In Jesus name, amen.

This psalm's long enough, we won't have time to go through every detail of it. But I want you to get the big scope. We're going to start by talking about loyal love or steadfast love. Then we're going to talk about righteousness and how that connects to loyal love. Once we talk about that, we'll say, what does it mean to take refuge? And why does that overflow in gratitude? So four pieces, God's loyal love, righteousness, take refuge and thankfulness.

As we start, you notice he began with this call. Oh, give thanks to the Lord for he is good. There's this first reason that's an abstract idea, like something that's true about God, he is good, but we don't know what does that goodness look like?

Then he goes on to give a more specific example of his goodness, that his steadfast love endures forever. It's not just that he has steadfast love. That he has a certain kind of love that we'll talk about in a minute. It's not merely that he has it, it's that that will last forever and ever and ever and ever.

It's one thing to really feel loved. It's another thing to know you will never not be loved. It's everlasting. His steadfast love endures forever. It's like a, it's like an evergreen tree.

Fall is here. Winter almost here. And you go out in a forest and you see trees that no longer have leaves. And you're walking through the forest and you come around a corner and you see an evergreen tree that is just stark, especially if it's snowy, and so the green just pops off of the white. You say God made that to stay like that all the time. It's beautiful. His steadfast love is evergreen. It endures forever and ever and ever.

As he begins with this, this word that's translated steadfast love, or some translations will say loving kindness or loyal love, or a whole lot of different words, people have tried to put together because there's not really an English word that, that gets both pieces of this word.

You might've heard the word before. It's "hesed." But it includes this idea of loyalty and of love. It includes an idea of, of emotional delight and warmth and acts of service. That's all love, but also of loyalty that it's never going to be broken. One of the challenges for us is we tend to see loyalty and love as almost, like, they don't fit together? Because we think if you really feel a sense of loyalty, then it's almost like, well, you're doing it out of your duty. You don't really love. Or on the other hand, if you really feel love, you don't think about loyalty the same way. Like, we tend to view that like I can see loyalty the most when somebody continues in something they don't want to do. We tend to see loyalty that way. Or like I can see love the most when you don't think about I'm obligated in some way to show love. I just do it.

But actually, when you combine the two ideas, You have the idea that you are within a relationship with someone. There's a reason for loyalty, and yet you delight to be in that relationship with them. You love them. In the, in the best human family situations, I think we see glimpses of it.

No human family relationship is perfect at it. If you've been married longer than a day, you know, it doesn't always quite work that way. But the best, the ideal, what we see and say, that's what I know I should have, is this overflowing delight and love and service for someone and this total commitment of loyalty to a relationship, to a covenant. In the best forms of marriage, on our best days, we at least get close to that.

Or maybe it's not a marriage relationship, maybe it's siblings. And you say, I have a certain loyalty to that person that I just don't to everybody else. And in the best ones, you say, and I really do love them. I feel delight in who they are.

Maybe that doesn't land all the time. I understand that, but we know the ideal. We get the idea. There's a kind of relationship that is defined where there should be loyalty and there should be love. There should be both. Yes, I will always be here in this relationship and I delight to do it.

Take the best versions of loyalty and the best versions of love, stick them together. That's "hesed." That's steadfast love. It's not the kind of love that is loyalty -- God is not loyal to us because we are so amazing. He has entered a relationship with his people, and he says that covenant relationship with both loyalty and delight. Scripture says, like a bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so God rejoices over his people. That kind of love, that kind of delight will last forever. Not because we have earned it, we'll get there in a minute. Not because we deserve it in some way, but because God is good. And his steadfast love endures forever.

So if that's loyal, love jumped to verse 19, we need to talk about righteousness. The psalmist prays open to me the gates of righteousness that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. He knows I need to come to God in a certain way. Again, we might sometimes misunderstand the word righteousness.

We might think primarily about a, like a perfect record of behavior. And that is related. But when he talks about righteousness throughout the Psalms, it is your right relationship to God, ultimately. One way to get that is if Adam had never sinned, he would be rightly related to God because he'd have a perfect record of behavior.

That's not the only way to get righteousness, because Jesus had a perfect record of behavior. And we can receive righteousness by faith. So there are other ways in scripture. A perfect record isn't the only thing. What he is doing here, the Psalmist says, I need to come into your presence, God. I need to come into your presence with thanksgiving. And the only way I can do that is if I'm in a right relationship, because remember, loyal love is built on a relationship. He's going to show love and have delight because he's in this relationship. So the psalmist in verse 19 says, if that's your loyal love, I want to make sure I'm always there and I'm not, oh, I'm not going somewhere else and I'm not outside of that relationship.

So he prays, God open to me a right relationship with you open to me, the gates of righteousness. He knows he's not righteous in himself. If we were to go back to verse 17. He said, I shall not die, but I shall live. I will recount the deeds of the Lord. The Lord has disciplined me severely, but He has not given me over to death. The psalmist knows he has done things that God has been disciplined him for. So he's not coming to verse 19 saying, I'm perfect. Open the gates of righteousness so I can come enjoy your loyal love. That's not what he's doing. He's saying, in fact, you've disciplined me through these difficulties. He cries out and says, I have to have your loyal love because it's that good.

So God opened the gates of righteousness to me. Let me be in a right relationship with you. Notice he's not entitled, he's not coming going, God, I've been pretty good, let me have a good relationship. Because feeling entitled will absolutely kill thankfulness.

And this psalm is full of thankfulness. From the very beginning, O give thanks. To the very end, O give thanks. To open to me the gates of righteousness that I may enter, and give thanks. If he were entitled, I've done all this, I get to come in and enjoy your loyal love, he wouldn't be thankful like that. But instead he knows he's not entitled. So he gives thanks because of God's salvation.

Continuing, so open to me, these gates, verse 21, he says, God has done that. I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. We just went through the book of first Peter. First Peter picked up this next verse, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

He picked up that verse and said, this is about Jesus. He's the cornerstone that the builders rejected, but now the foundation of all righteousness. It's Jesus.

So while the psalmist didn't understand how all of this worked together, he knew this thing I'm describing, this stone the builders rejected, is going to be the foundation of any kind of right relationship with God.

And so he says a verse that we often quote, I could have had you start it and you could finish it. This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. The point here is not that whatever you had for breakfast this morning, was part of the day the Lord has made. Like he just gives you whatever random stuff.

That's not really the point. The point is that God has perfectly designed salvation so that you can be rightly related to him and therefore be in his loyal love, forever. That's true today and that means that whatever goodness God pours on you, which includes your breakfast and includes you waking up this morning and all of those things, whatever goodness God pours on you is built on the goodness of him giving you righteousness so that you can be in his loyal love.

This is the day the Lord has made so that you don't ever have to be apart from his loyal relational love. That's why he says, I'll rejoice and be glad in it. Cause we've all had some days where we think if it's only the circumstances of this day, that does not make me want to rejoice and be glad in it. We've all had those days.

But if your faith is in the one who gives you righteousness, then even on that day, you are covered with God's hesed, with his loyal love. Because you have righteousness through the stone that the builders rejected: through Jesus.

Now that means every day of your life. As a believer in Jesus, every single day is full of God's means of showing His goodness to you. Every day is full of God's means of making you more like His Son, of showing His steadfast love to you, and of preparing for you an eternal weight of glory. Every single day, in thousands more ways than you know, God is doing that.

And if you think He's not, what you're saying is either God's loyal love has somehow stopped today, or he's not really good.

So you might think that sounds great. I don't feel that all the time. What am I supposed to do? Great, cool ideas. We can talk about it here. I'm going to go out and this afternoon, maybe a rough afternoon for you. And you may already know that. What am I supposed to do? Well, there's a right response to loyal love.

Loyal love requires righteousness because righteousness is the relationship that royal love is poured out on. So you're right with God through Jesus Christ. And therefore your, his loyal love is on you. But what's the response to that? Well, that's found in verse eight and nine. It is better to take refuge.

To take refuge. It's interesting. I've used this word a couple times. Hesed, loyal love. The word for take refuge is Hasah. If you heard it in Hebrew and you got to, it is better to take refuge. You're like, Oh, I just heard hesed said like five straight times at the beginning of this. And it pops back into your head because what do you do with God's loyal love?

It's one thing to theoretically know God has loyal love. It's another thing to hide in it, to take refuge in his loyal love.

We'll have to run through his journey here. But if you go back to verse five, The psalmist says, I'm in distress. So what does he do? He calls on the Lord. The Lord answers him and sets him free. We could park here for a long time and say, all the distresses you feel are actually bondage. And God is a liberator.

You feel distressed because you say, I don't have enough power to do what I want to do. That's actually bondage to be enslaved to think I have to control everything. And God wants to come along and say, no, you don't be set free. God is a liberator, and the distresses we feel are bondage, but going to him and calling is a step of taking refuge.

In verse six and seven, we see the result. You say, the Lord is on my side. That's a statement of God's loyal love is on me. The Lord is on my side, who will I fear? When you take refuge in God's loyal love, you have amazing confidence and courage because you know it lasts forever. It will never end.

In verse 8 when he uses this word, take refuge, he starts each, each verse with, "it is better." You believe that? This is not a head word. It's not like, oh, check, I know it's better. This is a heart word.

Do you actually believe it's better to trust in God than to trust in the wealthiest man on the planet? Do you actually believe it's better to trust in God than to trust in the most powerful man on the planet? Do you actually believe it's better to take refuge in the Lord? Because it's possible for you to be loved with the most incredibly radical, extreme, intense love and yet not feel safe.

Do you take refuge in it?

Maybe you've seen a couple like this. Maybe you've seen a husband and wife and you say that person loves their spouse so incredibly much, and if you talk with their spouse a while you start to hear these questions like, I just don't know. I don't know if they really love me. They don't feel safe.

Now Perhaps there's more going on that you don't know about. But maybe they're not taking refuge in the loyal love that is actually there, so they don't feel it.

If you're a believer in Jesus, God's loyal love is there for you. And if you don't feel safe, the problem's not God's love.

Do you take refuge? When the distress comes, do you say, I'm going to go hide there? Or do you try to hide in my plans and my control and my pleasure and my comfort and my whatever else you might go hide in? Do you say, no, I'm going to take refuge in the righteousness God gives because his love is poured out on me.

In verse 10 through 13, it's an active thing. He says, I, I have enemies all around me and his taking refuge doesn't mean I sit in a corner and hope God strikes them with lightning. It means I'm gonna go do whatever I can. But he recognizes, by verse 13, I was pushed hard so that I was falling. I'm trying to do what I can. I'm trying to do that, but I have to take refuge in him because I will ultimately fail. And so he responds, the Lord is my strength. And my song, he has become my salvation.

Strength is a physical word. I have the will to do it and the ability to do it. Song is more of an emotional, creative word. And then he speaks of a fact he has become my salvation.

He tells you, you need to respond with your whole person, with your mind, with your heart, with your will, all of it to say, I am taking refuge in his salvation.

And so he ends the Psalm with a prayer of thanks. I want to encourage you, this week, a few days before Thanksgiving, you could take the petitions of this psalm, especially this last section, and say because of who God is, because His loyal love lasts forever, and He's given me righteousness so I can receive His loyal love, and I can take refuge in Him, because of that, here's some petitions, you could go before God this week.

Verse 25, Save us, we pray, O Lord. Save me from distress. Save me from bondage. Bondage can look like slavery. Bondage can look like I have to have people's approval. God save me. That's one request. That's one that will drive you to Thanksgiving, because you remember he has! He has saved me! Save us from distress and bondage.

Second, O Lord, we pray. Give us success. We might feel weird about praying that, but do you know, God loves you? He's not promising to give you selfish success so that you can just trust yourself and worship yourself. But God loves his children. He's a God of all grace who says, I love you. I want to give you good things. So pray, God, give us success. Success, the way you define it. Not the way I define it, but give us success.

Verse 26. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. This week, don't just pray for yourself. Pray blessing on God's people. This room's full of them. You know plenty more in Knoxville. You know plenty more in Tennessee. Keep going out and out and out. All over the world. Would you think this week, take some time, think on what God is doing all over this planet. And pray blessing on God's people. And as you do that, and you think on that, there's going to tend to be a response of thank you.

But not just blessing on God's people, recognition of what he's done, the Lord is God. He has made us his light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords. He speaks of bringing the sacrifice and doing the right kind of worship that they were required to do. Enjoy, feast with sacrifice before your God. Worship and enjoy it.

So on Thursday, when you say, I'm going to eat a big meal, enjoy it because your father gave you every one of those tastes. He did not have to give us taste buds. It could have all tasted like gravel. But he did give you taste buds and you can enjoy it. So be thankful.

Don't just leave it at God. Bless your people. Save me. You are God. I'm going to celebrate, but it's personal. You are my God.

Don't just pray Thanksgiving prayers around the Thanksgiving meal with everybody there. Find a little bit of time this week to say, God, you're my God, and I am going to take refuge in you. That loyal love is what I live for. It's for your love, God. So I'm going to take refuge in you, whether the people around me give me the kind of love I want to have or not. I'm going to take refuge because you are my God, and I will give thanks to you. You are my God, I will extol you.

And that drives our psalmist to the last verse. The restatement of the first one. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.

I want to give you three things that will kill gratitude. I'm just going to say them without much comment. I said one earlier. Entitlement, thinking I deserve everything, will kill your gratitude.

Self-righteousness will kill your gratitude, because you won't be resting in the righteousness that sits you in loyal love.

Misplaced trust, trusting in man, will kill your gratitude.

On the flip side, taking refuge in God's loyal love will feed your gratitude. Taking all the distresses and saying, I'm hiding right under Jesus, that will feed your gratitude. Worship, praise, recognition of how wonderful your God is, how good He is, that will feed your gratitude.

In this psalm, if I could put it into one sentence, God's people are loved with loyal love. We are safe. Because we can take refuge and therefore we can always be thankful. I pray that that would be your heart and mine this week. That we won't just be thankful like anyone outside of Christ is thankful, but that our thankfulness will overflow because my thankfulness is rooted in the fact that he loved me on the cross. And I can take refuge from every attack and know I am safe. So give thanks to the Lord for he is good. For a steadfast love endures forever.

I invite you to take just a moment and respond with gratitude, perhaps confession. Whatever you need to do, take a moment and speak with God, and then I'll pray.

Lord, I don't know the hearts of everyone who is here, but Lord, I'm, I'm sure there are many of us who struggle to really feel that you love us. You've said over and over and over in the Psalms that your loyal love endures forever, and you have told us how to be in that kind of relationship with you.

Whatever weary, thirsty, broken souls may seem to be here today, would you graciously work and draw them to the refuge that is the only refuge worth trusting in?

Would you help us to know the beauty of your love and to overflow with gratitude for it?

And we thank you for that grace too. In Jesus name. Amen.