Latest / Reformed Thinking / This Is the Day the Lord Has Made (Psalm 118) | Charles Spurgeon

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This Is the Day the Lord Has Made (Psalm 118) | Charles Spurgeon · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to reformed thinking. It's so good to be sitting down
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for another deep dive today. It really is.
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And well, for today's deep dive, I want you, the listener, to
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just imagine being trapped in a narrow, rocky gorge.
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Oh wow, that sounds claustrophobic right out of the
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gate. Right.
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Picture the arid landscape of the ancient Middle East.
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You are completely walled in by these sheer cliffs on either
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side. You have to absolutely nowhere
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to run. Yes, nowhere.
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You cannot go left and you cannot go right.
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Suddenly, you hear this roaring sound echoing down the Canyon.
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Like a flash flood. Yes, a massive flash flood
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rushing violently toward you. The water is rising fast, there
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is absolutely no high ground, and you are completely paralyzed
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by the claustrophobia of impending destruction.
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That is a terrifying scenario. It is.
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And that terrifying, suffocating scenario is precisely how an
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ancient king once described A psychological and spiritual
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feeling of his own sin and distress.
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Which brings us to the text we have on the table right now.
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Yes, today we are undertaking a massive deep dive into the
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source material that captures that very feeling and more
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importantly, the rescue that follows.
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We have an immense stack of sources to look at.
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We are pulling insight from Martin Luther, John Calvin, John
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Wycliffe, and Augustine. And our primary text guiding us
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today is Charles Spurgeon's massive multi volume commentary,
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The Treasury of David. Specifically, we are going to
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look closely at Psalm 118. Our mission for this deep dive
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is to analyze the historical context, the messianic
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foresight, and the theological weight of this ancient.
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Hymn. And we are looking at it through
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a strictly reformed perspective. OK, let's unpack this.
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Because whether you are facing intense personal trials or
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feeling the crushing weight of your own depravity, this deep
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dive will provide immense clarity and comfort for you.
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Or, you know, maybe you just want to understand how the Old
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Testament points clearly to Christ.
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We are going to examine the sovereignty of God, the total
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inability of man to save himself, and the staggering
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reality of covenant grace. It is a remarkable text to
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study, and having this specific collection of historical voices
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gives us an incredibly robust framework for our analysis.
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So to truly grasp what is happening in the lyrics of this
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song, we first have to establish the physical and historical
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setting. Right, we have to place
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ourselves in the dirt and the dust of the ancient world.
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According to the historical record in the Book of Ezra,
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chapter 3, verses 10 and 11, the first and last sentences of this
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specific song were sung at a monumental moment.
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When the builders laid the foundation stones for the second
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temple. Yes, after the people of Israel
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had returned from their grueling exile in Babylon, they organized
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a massive public ceremony. They set the priests in their
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intricate apparel with trumpets, and the Levites stood ready with
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cymbals. And they sang together by
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chorus, praising and giving thanks unto the Lord.
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They were shouting because He is good for His mercy endureth
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forever toward Israel. So the framework of this song
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was utilized at one of the most emotional, chaotic days in the
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history of the nation. But Spurgeon, alongside many
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other commentators, agrees that the original author is likely
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King David himself. That historical scene in Ezra is
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incredible to visualize, but it presents a fascinating contrast.
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How so? Well, you have the older
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generation weeping loudly because they remembered the
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sheer scale and glory of the first temple built by Solomon.
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They knew this new foundation was much smaller.
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Oh, right, and at the exact same time you have the younger
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generation shouting for absolute joy because they finally had a
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foundation at all. The biblical text says the sound
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of the weeping and the shouting blended together so loudly it
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was heard from miles away. That is a staggering auditory
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image. It really is.
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Now, when you think about that public setting, this Psalm
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functions much like a national anthem being sung at a major
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monument dedication. It belongs to the whole country.
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But at the same time, when you read the actual lyrics, it reads
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like an intensely private journal entry.
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It talks about the author's specific enemies, his physical
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distress, and his vindication by God.
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I see the tension there. So I have to ask you to clarify
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this How does a song so obviously about David's private
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life function as a national anthem?
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And how does it function as a messianic prophecy that the
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listener today can apply to Jesus?
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Uh huh. Are we just projecting Jesus
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onto a text about an ancient king?
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Yes, precisely. What's fascinating here is the
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dual nature of the text. Understanding this requires us
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to look at the mechanics of how reformed theology approaches the
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Old Testament. Let us break that down.
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David's personal rejection by his political enemies, his
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intense physical suffering, and his eventual vindication by God
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are all a historical reality. These things actually happened
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to the man, David. But in the sovereign Providence
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of God, David's life broadly typifies the Lord Jesus.
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Absolutely. David is the anointed king who
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must suffer tremendously before he actually takes the throne and
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reigns. Jesus is the ultimate anointed
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king who must suffer the agony of the cross before he takes the
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heavenly throne. However, Spurgeon gives us a
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very necessary strict warning here.
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Yes, he clarifies that while we see Christ in the text, we
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should avoid doing violence to the Scripture by twisting every
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single syllable to fit Jesus. We cannot force A1 to 1
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correlation everywhere. For instance, later in the Psalm
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there is the phrase I shall not die but live.
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Some overly eager commentators have tried to apply that
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specifically to Jesus. Arguing that it means Jesus did
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not stay dead. Right, but we know from the
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Gospels that Jesus did die. His death is the very glory of
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the Gospel. It is the sole basis of our
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substitutionary atonement. If we force the text to say
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Jesus didn't die, we lose the gospel entirely.
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So we must read the text. Naturally, we should cite JA
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Alexander's suggestion here, which Spurgeon highlights in his
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commentary. What does Alexander suggest?
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He suggests that the speaker in the Psalm is a typical
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individual representing the entire nation.
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This relies on the concept of federal headship.
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I want to stop you right there and ask you to explain the
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actual mechanics of federal headship for the listener.
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We use that term a lot in reform circles, but how does it
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practically work in this text? That is a fair question.
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If you are reading a Psalm, you want to know if it applies to
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you, to David, or to Jesus. Exactly.
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I mean, absolutely. Federal headship simply means
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that a designated leader acts as the legal and spiritual
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representative for a group of people.
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Think of it like a modern president or Prime Minister
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signing an international treaty. Or declaring war.
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The everyday citizens do not sign the document, nor do they
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vote on the specific battlefield tactics, but because their head
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made the declaration, the entire nation goes to war.
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The experience of the head becomes the experience of the
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body. Yes, in the biblical context,
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the experience of the head, the king, becomes the experience of
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the members, the followers. What happens to David legally
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and spiritually happens to Israel?
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And in the new covenant, what happens to Christ happens to the
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church. Precisely because Jesus lived a
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perfect life and satisfied the wrath of God on the cross, His
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righteousness is credited to you, the listener, because he is
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your federal head. Therefore, when you read this
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Psalm, you are reading about David, you are reading about the
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ultimate King, Jesus. And because you are united to
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Christ, you are also reading about your own spiritual
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reality. That concept of the head and the
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members brings so much clarity. As you read the Old Testament,
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you do not have to choose between whether the text is
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about the historical author or about Jesus.
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Because of federal headship, it is about the King, which means
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it is about the true king, which means it involves all of us who
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are united to that king by faith.
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That is a great way to summarize it.
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Since this was sung at that massive national gathering you
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mentioned in Ezra, the psalmist actually acts as a choir
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conductor right at the beginning of the song.
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He cues different sections of the massive crowd to sing
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specific lines. In verses one through 4, the
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psalmist calls on 4 distinct groups to declare that the Lord
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is good and his mercy is everlasting.
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He calls on the whole nation first, then he specifically
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calls on Israel, then he points to the House of Aaron, and
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finally he calls on them that fear the Lord.
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I look at that and wonder about the practical reason behind it.
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Why does the psalmist segment the crowd this way?
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Instead of just addressing everyone at once.
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Right. Why go through the effort of
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dividing them up into specific demographics instead of just
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saying hey everybody, praise God.
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The segmentation is highly intentional.
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It reveals the distinct ways God interacts with different people
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within His covenant. Let us break down those groups 1
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by 1 to see the mechanics of grace at work.
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Let us start with Israel. In this theological context,
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Israel represents the elect people.
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They are the ones saved by sovereign grace.
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If you look at their history in the Old Testament, it is not a
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history of pristine moral behavior.
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It is a history of constant rebellion in the wilderness,
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complaining about food, building golden calves and failing to
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trust God's promises. Yet God chose them out of all
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the nations on earth. They are called to sing about
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God's mercy because their very existence as a nation is proof
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of a mercy that overlooks total depravity.
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They did not earn their status, it was decreed.
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Then the conductor calls on the House of Aaron.
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These are the priests. Their entire vocation revolved
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around the sacrificial system. Every single day, from morning
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until evening, they slaughtered animals.
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They had their hands covered in warm blood.
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Because of this, they had an acute, visceral, visual
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understanding of God's grace. They knew better than anyone in
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the nation that the wages of sin is death.
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They watched the life drain out of the sacrifices, knowing that
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God was withholding righteous judgment for the people only
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because a substitute was dying in their place.
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They saw the horrific cost of sin up close, so their song of
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mercy would carry a completely different, heavier weight.
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Finally, he calls on them that fear the Lord.
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This group includes the Gentiles, the proselytes, who
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are not ethnic Jews but who had been drawn by the Holy Spirit to
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worship the true God. This shows the global, sweeping
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scope of God's redemption. It is not limited to one
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specific bloodline or ethnicity. God's sovereign decree gathers
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the elect from every single nation.
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And the unifying theme for all those diverse groups is the word
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mercy. But I want to be very careful
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how we define that word. Why is that?
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Because modern culture uses mercy as a synonym for a general
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feeling of pity, like feeling bad for a stray dog.
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In a reformed context, we are talking about Covenant mercy.
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Yes, this is not God looking down and feeling a fleeting
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emotion of sadness for humanity. Covenant mercy is a solid,
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unbending decree. It is favor bestowed upon
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totally depraved rebels, not based on any sliver of merit
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they might possess, but based entirely on God's eternal
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choice. And the text demands a very
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specific timing for acknowledging this mercy.
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I want to highlight a specific word in that text that the
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sources bring out. Focus on the word now.
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The psalmist says let Israel now say he repeats it for each
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group, but the House of Aaron now say.
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It is a demand for immediate present tense action.
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There is a fantastic quote from the Puritan writer Richard Cable
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that addresses this. He writes about the sheer
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spiritual danger of delays when it comes to praising God or
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dealing with the state of our souls.
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Cable says that Satan is perfectly happy to let you plan
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to praise God as long as you put it off until tomorrow.
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Satan knows that a cold heart only grows colder with time.
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That is a brilliant psychological insight from
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Capell, and it aligns perfectly with the doctrine of human
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depravity. Our flesh naturally gravitates
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toward procrastination regarding spiritual matters.
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We tell ourselves we will get serious about our faith later,
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or we will thank God for his mercy when our current financial
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crisis resolves. Or when our health improves, or
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when things just calm down, we assume we have a surplus of
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time. But Capell points out the
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terrifying reality that we do not possess the future.
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The future is entirely in the hands of God's Providence.
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If you are listening to this deep dive and you know you have
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been delaying obedience to a specific command or delaying
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gratitude for the grace you've been given, the text is staring
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you in the face and saying now. God's covenant mercy is a
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present reality, and your response must be a present
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reality. You cannot offer yesterday's
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praise and you cannot guarantee tomorrow's obedience.
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That urgency is so necessary to grasp because the reality of the
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Christian life is that we do not live in a static environment.
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We are constantly moving through difficult, sometimes agonizing
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terrain, and the text itself shifts gears dramatically right
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after this grand public choral opening.
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The song becomes intensely personal, moving from the
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national public experience of the choir to the individual
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private experience of distress. In verses 5 through 7, the
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psalmist says he called upon the Lord in distress and the Lord
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answered him by setting him in a large place.
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He declares that the Lord is on his side and takes his part
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against his enemies. The contrast between the
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distress and the answer is stark.
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And this brings us right back to the scenario I mentioned at the
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very beginning of our conversation.
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The sources point out a translation quirk regarding that
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word distress. Yes, some scholars render that
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original Hebrew phrase as calling out of a narrow gorge.
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The imagery there is terrifying if you understand the geography
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of the Middle East. A narrow gorge or a Wadi is a
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dry riverbed with steep rocky walls.
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When a sudden rainstorm hits the mountains miles away, a flash
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flood violently weeps through that gorge without warning.
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If you are walking in it, you are walled in.
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You cannot climb the slick rock and the water is rising to drown
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you. It is a feeling of total
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helplessness. Can you analyze the mechanics of
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being trapped by sin like that and what it practically means
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for the Lord to answer the believer and set them in a large
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place? That geographical metaphor
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provides a perfect visual representation for the
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theological reality of our fallen condition.
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If we look at this through the lens of justification, the
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entire picture comes into sharp focus.
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How does justification tie into the Wadi?
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Well before the grace of God intervenes, a Sinner is
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completely shut up in a prison under the law.
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You are standing at the bottom of that narrow gorge.
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With the walls of God's perfect, unyielding justice on either
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side of you. You cannot scale those walls
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because your total depravity makes you completely incapable
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of righteous perfection. Behind you is your entire
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history of sin pushing you forward.
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And in front of you is the impending, crushing weight of
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divine wrath, rushing towards you like a flood.
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You are completely, hopelessly trapped.
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You feel the absolute claustrophobia of your own
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guilt, knowing you have no escape mechanism.
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In that state of spiritual agony, when a person finally
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realizes their total inability to save themselves, the Holy
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Spirit prompts the prayer of faith.
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The Sinner cries out from the gorge.
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And here's the beautiful reality of the Gospel.
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The answer to that prayer is not just a slight widening of the
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gorge. God does not just give you a
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small ledge to cling to while the water rushes past.
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No, the answer brings the Sinner entirely out of the Canyon and
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into the boundless inheritance of Christ's imputed
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righteousness. That is the large place.
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You are brought out into a vast open plain of grace where the
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law can no longer condemn you. Because the law has already been
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satisfied by Christ, you have freedom, you have peace with
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God, and you have an inheritance that stretches further than the
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eye can see. And the text gives us the
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specific reason why the believer is brought into that large
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place. I want to point out a phrase in
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verse 6. The Lord is on my side.
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The sources note that the Hebrew phrasing can actually be
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translated as Jehovah belongs to me.
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That is a staggering, almost incomprehensible reality.
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This is the ultimate divine alliance.
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The Westminster Confession teaches that God is infinite,
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eternal and unchangeable in his being.
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Wisdom, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.
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When that specific creator, the one who spoke galaxies into
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existence, aligns with the finite creature through the
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covenant of grace, the creature can look at the entirety of
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hostile humanity and say, I will not fear.
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Spot on. If we grasp the magnitude of
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that divine alliance, it forces us to re evaluate everything
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about how we operate in the world.
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And the text logically progresses to this very
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conclusion. If you have the creator of the
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universe on your side, relying on human alliances becomes
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glaringly foolish. Verses 8:00 and 9:00 make this
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explicit. It is better to trust in the
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Lord than to put confidence in man or in Princess.
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Here's where it gets really interesting, especially for
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those of us who love the physical layout of the biblical
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text. There's a mathematical curiosity
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about verse 8 that our sources point out.
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It feels entirely providential. Verse 8 is the physical middle
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verse of the entire Protestant Bible.
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It is the 15,500 and 87th verse out of over 31,000 verses.
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This one sits right at the dead center of the text.
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And it's specific message is about trusting God over human
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authority. I have to ask you to push into
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the psychology of this for a moment.
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If this is the central truth of Scripture, and if we know God's
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strength is infinite, why are human beings so continually
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addicted to trusting earthly leaders?
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Why do we constantly look to the government or our social circles
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for security when we have the large place of God's grace?
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Yes, exactly. A direct symptom of our fallen
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nature and our struggle with the lingering effects of sin.
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We crave what we can see, what we can measure, and what we can
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control. Faith requires trusting the
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unseen decrees of God, while trusting A politician only
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requires looking at a television screen.
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Albert Barnes, one of the commentators in our stack of
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sources, provides 5 very clear reasons for the absolute
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superiority of trusting God over trusting man.
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These five points perfectly frame why our addiction to human
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leaders is so misplaced and dangerous.
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What is the first point? First, Barnes notes that man is
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weak. Even the wealthiest politician
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or billionaire has strict limits to their physical strength.
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A single microscopic virus can end their reign. 2nd man is
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selfish. Even the most noble human
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leaders will always eventually prioritize their own survival,
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their own legacy, or their own family over you.
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That is a hard truth. What is the third reason?
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3rd man is deceitful. Promises are broken routinely in
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human alliances. Political platforms change with
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the polling data. 4th man is utterly useless in the face of
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death. No trance, president or king,
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can pardon you from the grave. Or speak on your behalf at the
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final judgement seat of God. And 5th man is strictly
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temporary. The greatest human empires.
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Rome, Babylon, Persia, they all turn to dust.
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Those five points are a devastating critique of human
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influence. They are, and Barnes points out
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that God is the exact opposite in every single one of those
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categories. Let us walk through that
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contrast. God possesses limitless
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strength. God is benevolently giving of
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Himself, having sacrificed his own Son for his enemies.
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God is perfectly truthful. It is impossible for him to lie.
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God is the Conqueror of death, having rolled the stone away
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from the empty tomb, and God is eternal.
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When we bring in the Westminster Confessions view of God's
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unchangeable decree, we see the contrast even more clearly.
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God's plans are ordained from eternity past and absolutely
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cannot be thwarted by any human action.
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Human will, on the other hand, is fickle, shifting with the
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wind, constantly reacting to unforeseen circumstances.
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Trusting a human Prince to secure your future is like
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anchoring a massive battleship to a passing cloud.
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That brings to mind the brilliant quote from William
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Shakespeare regarding the historical figure of Cardinal
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Wolsey. Spurgeon includes that in his
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commentary to to illustrate this point.
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For context, Cardinal Wolsey was an immensely influential figure
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in English history who had built his entire life, his massive
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fortune, and his entire identity on the favor of King Henry the
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Eighth. He trusted in a Prince.
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He bent his theology and his ethics to please the king.
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And when that political favor was suddenly withdrawn because
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Wolsey could not secure the King's divorce, Wolsey was
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utterly ruined, stripped of his position, and died in disgrace.
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Shakespeare puts these haunting words into the mouth of the
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dying cardinal. He says, Oh how wretched is that
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poor man that hangs on Prince's favors.
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And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer, never to hope again.
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It captures the sheer wretchedness of realizing that
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you gave your life, your energy, and your soul to an earthly
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institution that tossed you aside the moment you became
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politically inconvenient. The text is shouting at you not
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to make that mistake, but earthly friends failing you is
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only half the problem addressed in this song.
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The other half is that earthly enemies multiply rapidly.
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Yes, the text moves from the failure of human allies to the
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aggression of human enemies. In verses 10 through 14, the
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psalmist describes feeling completely surrounded.
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He says his enemies compass him about like bees, and they're
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quenched like the fire of thorns.
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He says the enemy thrust sore at him that he might fall, but the
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Lord helped him. I love the vivid imagery here.
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I do too, but I want to understand how it mechanically
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applies to the believer. How do swarms of bees and
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burning thorns accurately describe the specific attacks of
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the world and the attacks of Satan against the church today?
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The agricultural and natural imagery used here is brilliant
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for diagnosing the specific nature of spiritual warfare.
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Let's look at the mechanics of the bee swarm first.
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I gave the bees. The enemies of the Church and
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the spiritual forces of darkness are incredibly spiteful.
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If you have ever accidentally disturbed a hornet's nest or
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been swarmed by bees, you know the absolute panic it induces.
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They are. Everywhere.
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They're relentless, the buzzing fills your ears, and they attack
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from every conceivable angle. You cannot fight them with a
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sword or a shield. But there is a crucial
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biological fact about the bee that makes this metaphor so
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brilliant. What is that?
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When a bee stings you, it does damage, but it loses its Stinger
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and it loses its own life in the process.
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So the attacks of the world and the devil bring genuine pain to
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the believer. They cause swelling, discomfort,
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tears and massive disruption in your life.
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But for the believer who is secure in the covenant of grace,
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those attacks are not deadly to the soul.
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The enemy exhausts his own life in the attack.
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Because Christ took the ultimate sting of death on the cross.
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Right as the apostle Paul says, O death, where is thy sting?
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The enemy is disarmed. He can cause pain, but he cannot
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cause spiritual death. That completely reframes how we
22:24
view spiritual attacks. We feel the sting and think we
22:27
are dying, but the text tells us the sting is actually a sign of
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the enemy's defeat. And what about the thorns?
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Yes, let us look at the fire of thorns.
22:35
The thorns represent a different kind of attack.
22:37
In the ancient E, farmers would clear their fields by piling up
22:41
massive heaps of dry thorns and setting them on fire.
22:44
If you have ever seen dry, brittle brush catch fire, you
22:48
know it is incredibly loud. The fire crackles with deafening
22:51
noise, and the flames shoot up fiercely into the sky.
22:54
It looks terrifying, like an unstoppable inferno that will
22:57
consume everything in its path. But because the dry thorns have
23:00
absolutely no density or substance, the fire burns itself
23:03
out into a handful of cold ashes almost immediately.
23:07
The psalmist is telling you that the world's hatred toward you or
23:10
the cultural opposition to biblical truth might be
23:12
deafeningly loud. The outrage might look like a
23:15
roaring fire threatening to burn down the church, but it is
23:18
remarkably brief. It has no lasting substance.
23:22
False ideologies burn hot and fast, but they turn to ash while
23:26
the truth of God's Word remains forever.
23:28
Our sources provide 2 gripping historical anecdotes to
23:32
illustrate these two types of attacks, and they are worth
23:35
sharing because they take this ancient poetry and make it
23:37
incredibly tangible. The first is about George
23:40
Schweinfurth, a famous African explorer.
23:43
He and his crew were dragging their heavy wooden boat through
23:46
thick reeds in a river when they accidentally disturbed a massive
23:50
hidden hive of bees. In an instant, a dark, buzzing
23:54
cloud out of insects descended on the men.
23:56
Schweinfer wrote in his journals about the madding, blinding
23:59
pain. The men were so overwhelmed they
24:01
threw themselves headlong into the water, sinking deep into the
24:04
thick mud. Just to escape the swarm.
24:06
They took hundreds of stings. That historical account captures
24:09
the terrifying, disorienting nature of a sudden spiritual
24:12
attack. You feel like you are drowning
24:15
in the mud, just trying to get away from the accusations, the
24:17
temptations and the pain. You lose all sense of direction.
24:20
The second illustration comes from the Spanish poet called
24:23
Iran. He told the story of a battle
24:25
hardened knight who wore a heavy suit of armor for a full year.
24:29
He never took it off, surviving numerous skirmishes and battles
24:32
because he was protected. But one day, feeling safe in his
24:35
camp, he took the armor off for one single hour to rest.
24:39
And in that specific hour, the enemy attacked the camp and the
24:43
knight was killed. This beautifully illustrates
24:45
verse 13 where the text says the enemy thrusts sore at him.
24:49
The devil does not just attack randomly with a blunt
24:51
instrument. He thrusts with precision,
24:54
looking for the gaps in the armor.
24:56
That concept of the targeted thrust is vital.
24:59
The enemy waits for the one moment you drop your guard, the
25:02
one moment you stop relying on the covenant grace of God and
25:05
start trusting in your own strength to strike the blow.
25:08
It shows the absolute necessity for constant daily vigilance.
25:13
You cannot take a vacation from relying on the grace of God.
25:16
But that targeted attack brings us to the most critical juncture
25:19
in the believers experience and frankly, the part of reformed
25:23
theology that many people struggle with the most.
25:25
The attacks described in the text were severe.
25:28
The thrusts landed, the bees stung, but they did not result
25:32
in destruction. This brings up a question that
25:34
every Christian must face, and I want you to address this
25:37
clearly. Why does God allow His people to
25:39
suffer such severe blows? If God is completely sovereign
25:44
over every atom in the universe, and He loves his elect people,
25:47
why does he let the bees swarm and the thorns burn around them?
25:51
Why not just decree a life of perfect comfort?
25:53
In verses 17 and 18, the psalmist declares, I shall not
25:57
die, but live and decline the works of the Lord.
26:00
The Lord has chastened me sore, but he have not given me over
26:03
unto death. If we connect this to the bigger
26:05
picture of Reformed theology, particularly the doctrine of
26:08
sanctification, the distinction between God's wrath and God's
26:12
chastening changes everything about how you endure suffering.
26:15
To answer your question about why God allows the blows, we
26:18
must understand His goal. For the believer, His goal is
26:22
not your immediate earthly comfort.
26:24
His goal is your absolute holiness and your conformity to
26:28
the image of Christ. Blows A believer takes in this
26:31
life are not punitive strikes from an angry judge demanding
26:34
payment for sin. Because that payment was already
26:37
made in full by Jesus Christ on the cross, Therefore the pain
26:42
you experience is the disciplining rod of a loving
26:44
Father. I want to push back on that
26:46
slightly because to someone sitting in a hospital waiting
26:49
room or someone who just lost their job, the pain feels
26:52
exactly like punishment. That is a very real human
26:55
reaction. How does a believer
26:57
differentiate between the wrath of God and the chastening of God
27:01
when the physical or emotional pain feels identical?
27:04
The difference lies entirely in the motivation of the one
27:07
striking the blow, and we only know that motivation through the
27:09
promises of Scripture. A judge strikes a criminal to
27:12
punish an exact a debt. A father strikes a child to
27:15
correct, to refine, and to save them from running into the
27:18
street. Spurgeon uses a beautiful
27:21
horticul cultural image to explain this mechanic.
27:23
God prunes his best, most fruitful roses with the most
27:27
aggressive care. If you see a master gardener
27:30
taking a sharp pair of shears and cutting a plant back until
27:33
it looks like nothing but bare, ugly branches, you might think
27:36
he hates the plant or is trying to destroy it.
27:38
But he is actually ensuring it produces the most vibrant,
27:41
massive blossoms in the next season.
27:43
The unpruned Bush grows wild and weak.
27:46
The prune Bush grows strong. There is also a strict sovereign
27:50
limit to the severity of this chastening.
27:53
The text explicitly says He hath not given me over unto death.
27:57
God will take you to the very edge of your physical or
27:59
emotional endurance. He will do this to break your
28:03
innate pride, to reveal the depths of your total depravity,
28:06
and just strip away your reliance on Princess and armor
28:09
so that you rely solely on Him. But he will never give his
28:12
children over to spiritual death.
28:14
The preservation of the Saints is guaranteed by the covenant.
28:17
That truth changes your entire posture.
28:19
In the midst of suffering, you realize you are not being
28:22
destroyed by a careless universe.
28:24
You are being carefully prepared by a sovereign Architect.
28:27
There is a legendary story about the early English reformer John
28:31
Wycliffe that that perfectly embodies this defiant faith in
28:34
the face of suffering. Wycliffe was a fierce critic of
28:36
the corruption in the church long before the Reformation
28:39
officially started. Because of his immense workload
28:42
and the constant stress of persecution, he became old,
28:46
severely sick and was presumed to be on his deathbed.
28:49
His political and religious enemies. 4 delegates from the
28:52
local Friars heard he was dying and came directly to his
28:56
bedroom. They stood around his bed like
28:58
vultures, hoping to hear him recant all his teachings against
29:01
their corruption. They wanted a deathbed surrender
29:04
to secure their own positions. Wycliffe lay there in silence,
29:08
incredibly weak. Then he ordered his servant to
29:11
physically raise him up on his pillows.
29:13
He fixed his eyes on these men who hated him, gathered all his
29:17
remaining breath, and with a loud booming voice, he shouted
29:21
the words of verse 17. I shall not die, but live and
29:25
declare the evil deeds of the Friars.
29:27
The monks were absolutely terrified by his conviction and
29:29
fled the room in confusion. Wycliffe knew that his life was
29:32
in the hands of God's decrees, not in the hands of his illness
29:35
or his enemies. He knew he had work left to do,
29:38
and until God's decreed time for him was complete, no disease
29:41
could take him. Surviving that kind of battle
29:44
and enduring the chastening rod of the Father needs the hero of
29:47
this Psalm directly to the temple gates to offer public
29:50
thanks. We see this major scene
29:52
transition in verses 19 through 23.
29:55
Yes, the scene shifts from the battlefield and the narrow gorge
29:58
right up to the massive gates of the sanctuary in Jerusalem.
30:02
The hero asks to enter the gates of righteousness, and it is
30:05
right here at the gates that the crowd recognizes and sings the
30:09
defining architectural metaphor of the entire New Testament.
30:12
Verse 22 says the stone which the builders refused is become
30:17
the headstone of the corner. Imagine standing before the
30:20
imposing, towering gates of the temple.
30:22
These are specifically called the Gates of Righteousness,
30:25
which means they require absolute flawless perfection to
30:29
enter. You cannot walk through them
30:30
with your own spotted sinful record.
30:32
And right at this location, where human merit fails, we get
30:35
this metaphor of the rejected stone.
30:38
I want you to break down how the rejected stone metaphor works,
30:41
both mechanically and ancient building practices and
30:44
spiritually for the believer trying to enter those gates.
30:47
Mechanically, the cornerstone of the headstone of the corner was
30:51
the most critical piece of masonry in ancient stone
30:54
architecture. It was not just a decorative
30:56
plaque with the date on it like we have today.
30:59
It was a massive, perfectly cut stone placed at the exact corner
31:03
where 2 heavy walls meet. It bore the weight of the
31:06
structure, it bound the two walls together so they wouldn't
31:09
collapse outward under pressure, and it's perfect angle set the
31:12
line for every other stone in the building.
31:14
If the cornerstone was flawed, the whole building would
31:17
eventually fail. Spiritually, this is a
31:19
devastating historical indictment of the religious
31:22
elites of Jesus Day. The builders mentioned in the
31:25
text are the Pharisees, the scribes and the chief priests.
31:29
They were the ones tasked by God with building up the spiritual
31:32
life of Israel. They looked at Jesus of
31:34
Nazareth. They examined his teachings, his
31:37
humble background in Galilee and his lack of political aggression
31:40
against Rome, and they decided he did not fit their specific
31:44
blueprint for a nationalistic church.
31:46
They tossed him aside as useless rubble.
31:48
They literally threw him out of the city gates to be crucified
31:52
on a garbage dump. But God, the master architect,
31:55
picked up that exact bloody stone.
31:58
He raised Jesus from the dead and made him the absolute
32:01
pinnacle of the structure. Christ is the cornerstone that
32:03
bears the weight of God's wrath, and He binds the two formerly
32:07
hostile walls of Jews and Gentiles together into one holy
32:11
temple. I want to focus on the reaction
32:13
to this architectural miracle. Verse 23 says this is the Lord's
32:17
doing. It is marvelous in our eyes.
32:19
That phrase, the Lord's doing, seems to completely eliminate
32:23
human effort or human wisdom from the equation of salvation.
32:27
It absolutely eliminates human effort, and that is a core tenet
32:31
of the Westminster Confession regarding unconditional
32:33
election. The growth, the preservation and
32:36
the architecture of the church rely entirely on supernatural
32:39
natural intervention. Human reasoning would never have
32:41
chosen A crucified Carpenter from a backwater town to be the
32:44
foundation of a global Kingdom. Natural human goodness cannot
32:47
build the church because, as we have established, there is no
32:50
natural human goodness. We are fallen.
32:53
If the Church's survival depended on the builders on
32:56
human wisdom, human eloquence, or human political strategies,
32:59
it would have collapsed entirely in the 1st century.
33:02
The fact that the stone the experts rejected became the
33:04
foundation of salvation is solely the decree and the
33:08
miraculous work of God. Only God can resurrect a dead
33:11
man, and only God can resurrect dead sinners and build them into
33:15
a spiritual house. Recognizing that cornerstone
33:18
naturally sparks a massive, joyful parade in the text.
33:22
This brings us to the celebration in verses 24 through
33:26
26. This is the day which the Lord
33:28
hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in
33:30
it. Save now, I beseech thee, O
33:32
Lord. And the crowd shouts blessings
33:34
on the 1 coming in the name of the Lord.
33:36
Now Christians quote, This is the day the Lord has made all
33:39
the time. You see it painted on wooden
33:41
signs and living rooms. You hear it on Sunday mornings,
33:45
often applying it specifically to the Sabbath day.
33:47
We're just having a positive attitude.
33:49
But look at the context here. What does this all mean when
33:51
they shout save now, which in Hebrew is the word hosanna
33:54
during a victory parade? If the cornerstone is already
33:57
laid and the victory over the enemies is already won, aren't
34:01
they already saved? Why are they pleading for
34:04
salvation at the absolute height of the celebration?
34:07
It seems like a contradiction. It looks like a contradiction
34:10
until you understand the historical context of the Jewish
34:12
festivals and the paradox of grace.
34:15
Let us dig into that context. During the Feast of Tabernacles,
34:19
the priests and the people would March around the massive bronze
34:22
altar in the temple courtyard. They would wave branches of palm
34:25
and Willow, and they would shout this exact text.
34:28
Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord.
34:30
It was part of the liturgy called the Great Hallel.
34:33
This is exactly what the crowds were reciting centuries later
34:36
when Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey, which we
34:39
commemorate as Palm Sunday. They were laying down palm
34:42
branches and shouting Hosanna publicly recognizing him as the
34:46
Messianic king fulfilling this specific Psalm.
34:50
But to answer your question about why they are praying for
34:52
salvation when they are already celebrating a victory, we have
34:55
to understand how grace operates in the human heart.
34:57
True believers, those who have already tasted the sovereign
35:01
grace of God and have been brought into the large place,
35:03
are the ones who are most desperate to plead for more
35:06
grace. Think about it mechanically.
35:09
A dead man does not ask for medicine.
35:12
A person who is completely blind to their own sin does not cry
35:15
out for deliverance. They think they are fine.
35:18
It is precisely because the believer knows God is the
35:20
Savior, and because they have experienced His deliverance from
35:24
the narrow gorge, that they cry out save now.
35:27
They are asking for the continued spiritual prosperity
35:30
of the Church. They are praying for their own
35:32
ongoing sanctification, asking God to continue saving them from
35:37
the remaining stubborn corruption of their flesh.
35:39
And asking him to save those who are still lost in darkness.
35:42
That makes perfect sense. The closer you get to a massive
35:45
light source, the more you see the dirt on your own clothes and
35:48
the more you realize you need constant washing.
35:51
The parade in the Psalm has passed through the gates of
35:53
righteousness. It has recognized the
35:55
cornerstone, and now it reaches its final serious destination,
35:59
the Altar of sacrifice. Verses 27 through 29 say God is
36:04
the Lord which hath showed us light.
36:07
Bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the
36:11
altar. And then the song concludes with
36:13
a final, full circle praise of God's eternal mercy.
36:16
I look at that phrase, bind the sacrifice with cords, and I
36:20
realize how much human nature flinches at the sight of the
36:23
sacrificial knife. We might approach the altar
36:26
willingly in a moment of emotional warmth, maybe during a
36:29
great worship service or a spiritual high.
36:31
We raise our hands and say, Lord, I give you my whole life.
36:34
But we naturally want to run away, sliding right off the
36:37
altar when things actually get difficult, when obedience costs
36:40
us our reputation, our money, or our physical comfort.
36:44
This raises an important question for every person.
36:46
Listen to this deep dive. How do we actually stay on the
36:48
altar? As you said, we might climb up
36:51
there voluntarily when the music is playing, but the fire of
36:54
sacrifice is incredibly hot. The Reformed doctrine of total
36:57
depravity reminds us that even after we are justified, our
37:00
flesh still wars against the Spirit.
37:03
We have a wandering, rebellious, comfort seeking nature.
37:06
If we are left to our own willpower, we will slide off the
37:09
altar the moment the sacrifice requires actual suffering.
37:13
Therefore we must be tied down. The text says.
37:16
Bind the sacrifice with cords. Now for the New Testament
37:19
believer, these are obviously not literal hemp ropes.
37:22
We are called to present our bodies as living sacrifices, as
37:26
the Apostle Paul writes in Romans 12.
37:28
The cords that bind us to the altar are spiritual realities,
37:31
the love of Christ which constrains us, the internal
37:34
witness and sealing of the Holy Spirit, and the series vows we
37:38
make to God in covenant fellowship with the local
37:40
church. We are bound to the finished
37:42
work of Jesus. We derive our acceptance before
37:45
God only because we are tethered to the one true perfect
37:48
sacrifice, Jesus Christ. Christ is both the altar that
37:51
sanctifies the gift and the sacrifice that pays the debt.
37:54
We are tied to Him, unable to escape His grace.
37:58
There is a vivid historical illustration of this concept of
38:01
total surrender that Spurgeon references in the commentary.
38:04
It is the official seal of the American Board of Missions.
38:07
Their seal featured an engraved image of an ox.
38:11
The ox is standing right in between an altar of sacrifice on
38:14
one side and a heavy wooden plow on the other.
38:17
Underneath the image is a simple Latin motto ready for either.
38:20
That ox is prepared to live and labor hard in the fields,
38:23
pulling the plow until it drops from exhaustion, or it is
38:27
prepared to be placed on the altar to suffer and die
38:29
immediately. Whichever the Master requires,
38:32
the ox is ready and bound. That is what it means to be
38:36
bound to the horns of the altar. You are tethered so tightly to
38:39
the sovereignty of God that whether he He calls you to
38:42
decades of exhausting, unnoticed labor and obscurity, or whether
38:46
he calls you to a sudden, painful sacrifice, you do not
38:49
run away. You trust the master.
38:51
And that posture of total, joyful surrender is the only
38:54
logical response to the massive theology presented in this song.
38:58
Let us summarize the progression we have traced today.
39:00
The Believer starts in the terrifying narrow gorge of
39:03
distress, trapped by their own sin and surrounded by hostile
39:06
enemies that swarm like spiteful bees and burn like loud thorns.
39:10
But God, motivated solely by his eternal, unchangeable covenant
39:15
mercy, reaches down and brings the believer into the wide open
39:19
plains of grace. He disciplines his child with
39:22
the heavy rod of affliction to kill their pride, but preserves
39:26
them from the sword of final destruction.
39:29
He leads them through the imposing gates of righteousness,
39:32
not based on their own flawed merit, but based entirely on the
39:36
perfection of the rejected cornerstone, Jesus Christ.
39:39
And having seen all this, having tasted this miraculous
39:42
salvation, the believer joyfully asked to be bound to the altar
39:46
of Christ, offering their life back to the Master Architect who
39:49
planned it all from eternity past.
39:51
We've covered massive theological ground today,
39:54
looking at everything from the mechanics of federal headship to
39:57
the doctrine of God's unchangeable decrees.
39:59
We want to leave you with a final thought to Mull over on
40:02
your own. Something that builds on the
40:03
source material and applies directly to your life tomorrow
40:06
morning. If Christ is the perfect
40:08
cornerstone and you are a living stone being built into this
40:10
temple by the sovereign hand of God, how are you handling the
40:13
painful friction? Specifically, when the master
40:16
architect takes his hammer and chisel to chip away your rough
40:20
edges to make you fit perfectly next to other believers in the
40:23
church whom you might otherwise never choose to associate with.