This Thy Day — Chuck Smith

Psalm 118 and the Day of the Messiah

Let's turn in our Bibles now to Psalm 118. It is in this Psalm that David prophesies of that day that Jesus would make his triumphant entry into Jerusalem. He begins it by saying, this is the day that the Lord has made.

We will rejoice and be glad in it. It is the day that the Messiah would present himself to the nation as the King. When David said, this is the day that the Lord has made, he's not talking about just any day.

He's talking about one special day that God had designed to present to the world his Son, the Messiah. The Psalm 118, beginning with the 22nd verse, actually deals with Jesus as Messiah. But we'll read the entire Psalm.

I'll read the first and the outnumbered verses. Pastor Brian will lead you, the congregation, in the even-numbered verses. And shall we stand as we read Psalm 118? O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever.

Let Israel now say that his mercy endureth forever. Let the house of Aaron now say that his mercy endureth forever. Let them now that fear the Lord say that his mercy endureth forever. I called upon the Lord in distress, and the Lord answered me, and he set me in a large place.

The Lord is on my side. I will not fear. What can man do unto me? The Lord taketh my part with them that help me. Therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.

It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. All nations come past me about, but in the name of the Lord will I destroy them. They come past me about, yes, they come past me about, but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them.

They come past me about like bees. They are quenched as the fire of thorns, for in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might fall, but the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength and song and has become my salvation.

The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacle of the righteous. The right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly. The right hand of the Lord is exalted. The right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly.

I shall not die but live and declare the works of the Lord. The Lord hath chastened me sore, but he hath not given me over unto death. Open to me the gates of righteousness. I will go into them and I will praise the Lord.

This gate of the Lord into which the righteous shall enter. I will praise thee for thou hast heard me and become my salvation. The stone which the builders refused has become the headstone of the corner.

This is the Lord's doings. It's marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord, O Lord, I beseech thee, send now salvation.

Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord. We have blessed thee out of the house of the Lord. God is the Lord which hath showed us light. Bind the sacrifice with cords even unto the horns of the altar.

Thou art my God and I will praise thee. Thou art my God, I will exalt thee. And together, O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. Lord, we give thanks to you because your mercy is as high as the heavens are above the earth.

So great is your mercy towards those that fear you. We thank you, Lord, that your mercy not only stretches to the heavens, but your mercy lasts forever. Your mercy endureth forever. Lord, we thank you that in your mercy, in your love and in your grace, you sent your only begotten Son to this world.

You sent him, Lord, to bring redemption, to bring salvation, to present himself to the world as the King, as the Lord. Lord, we realize that you came to your own, but your own received you not. That though the world was made by you, yet the world knew you not.

How thankful we are, Lord, that you've come to us, that we might open our hearts and receive you and to crown you as Lord of our lives. We pray, Father, that this day, this day in which we remember that momentous day when you came into Jerusalem riding on a donkey, the day that you presented yourself to be the King, that, Lord, this day we will make you the Lord and King of our lives.

In Jesus' name, Father. Amen. You may be seated. Tonight, we will be studying King Hezekiah, 2 Kings chapters 18 through 20. Fascinating King. A lot to learn from his life. Now, I know that a lot of you, as you read through the week, you try to figure out just where is Chuck going to draw his sermon this morning?

Well, we're going to do something a little different. We're not going to draw our sermon out of 2 Kings 18 through 20. But if I had, I would have chosen the verse where Hezekiah took the brass serpent that Moses had made in the wilderness and he broke it in pieces and called it Nehushtan.

Nehushtan. Because it had become, actually, an idol, an object of worship by the people. And he breaks it and he said, Nehushtan. It's only a thing of brass. It's not of God. And so, that's what I would have spoken on this morning.

And you can figure out what I might have said. But because it is Palm Sunday, we're going to go to Luke's Gospel and read Luke's account of this entry of Jesus into Jerusalem to present Himself to them as the Messiah.

Jesus Enters Jerusalem as the Promised King

Beginning with verse 29, and this is a free translation, but I think you'll be able to follow. And it came to pass when He was coming near to Bethphage and to Bethany at the mount that is called the Mount of Olives.

He sent two of His disciples saying, go into the village that is next to us. And when you enter, you'll find a colt that is tied on which a man has never sat. Loose him and bring him to me. And if any man ask you, why are you loosing him?

Say to him, because the Lord needs him. And they that were sent went their way and found even as He had said unto them. And as they were loosing the colt, the owners thereof said unto them, why are you loosing the colt?

And they said, the Lord needs him. And they brought him to Jesus and they cast their garments upon the colt. And they set Jesus thereon. And as He went, they spread their clothes in the way. And when He was come near even now to the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and to praise God with a loud voice for all of the mighty works that they had seen, saying, blessed is the King that comes in the name of the Lord.

Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees among the multitude said unto Him, Master, rebuke your disciples. And He said unto them, I tell you that if they should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.

Jesus Weeps Over Jerusalem's Blindness

And as He was coming near, as He beheld the city, He began to weep over it, saying, if you had only known at least in this thy day, as David said, this is the day that the Lord has made. If you had only known in this thy day the peace that you could have, but now it's hid from your eyes.

For the days are coming when your enemies will build a trench around you. They will encircle you and shut you up on every side. And they shall lay you even with the ground and your children with you. And they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another, because you knew not the day of your visitation.

Speaking of this day, the psalmist in prophecy said, this is the day that the Lord has made. We will be glad and rejoice in it. It is the day that the nation of Israel have been anticipating and longing for.

The day when the Messiah would appear. It was the day that the Old Testament was constantly pointing to. That special day when the Messiah would come, the deliverer of Israel. This is the day that the Messiah was to be presented to them.

And as the prophet Zechariah said, rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is coming to you. He is just. He has salvation. But he is lowly. He will be riding on a donkey upon a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Here he is. Riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. Your king is coming. The people start singing the 118th Psalm. They recognize, that is, the disciples were recognizing that he is now presenting himself unto the nation as their Messiah.

They are singing Hosanna, which is save now. Blessed is the king. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And as the Pharisees heard them singing this Messianic Psalm, they recognize that they were acknowledging him as the Messiah.

And so they said to Jesus, you better quiet them. That's blasphemy. And that is when Jesus said, if they would at this moment hold their peace, these very stones would cry out. This is that one special day in the history of man.

Daniel's Prophecy and the Triumphal Entry

The day when God would keep his promise and send his son, the Messiah, into the world. Daniel had said that 483 years after the commandment had been given to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, the Messiah would come.

It has now been 483 years since Artaxerxes signed the decree in 445 BC to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. In fact, it was 483 years to the day. This is the day that the Lord has made, riding on a donkey, coming into the city of Jerusalem.

Jesus is presenting himself to the nation as their Messiah, as their king. Lowly riding on a donkey. When Chesterton was thinking about that, he wrote, when fishes flew and forest walked and figs grew on a thorn, some moment when the moon was blood, then surely I was born.

With monstrous head and sickening cry and ears like errant wings, the devil's walking parody of all four-footed things, the tattered outlaw of the earth of ancient crooked will, mock me, scourge me. I am dumb, but I hold my secrets still, fools.

I also had my day, one far fierce day and sweet. I heard the shouts about my ears and there were palm branches at my feet. The day that the Lord had made, lowly riding on a donkey, coming into Jerusalem.

483 years from the day the commandment went forth to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, right on time, the Messiah is presenting himself to the people as their king. But wait a minute, something's wrong here.

The Rejected Messiah and the Suffering King

As they approach and get near to the city, the king is weeping. Why is he weeping? Is it because he knows that they're going to reject him? In the prophecy of Daniel, in which he told the day that the Messiah would come, he said, but the Messiah will be cut off and not receive the kingdom.

In the prophecy of David, in which he declared, this is the day that the Lord has made. David said, but he will be rejected by the builders. Isaiah, who prophesied of the coming Messiah said, he will be despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

Again, David writing of him said, I am a reproach of man. I'm despised by the people. And again, in Psalm 69, as David was speaking again of his Messiah, he said, you have known my reproach and my shame and my dishonor and my adversaries are before thee.

Reproach has broken my heart. I am full of heaviness. And I looked for someone to take pity. There was none for someone to comfort, but I found none. And they gave me gall for my meat. And in my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.

It's almost as if David were observing the scene, though it would not take place for over a thousand years from the time he wrote it. But he could see the king weeping as he declared reproach has broken my heart.

I'm full of heaviness. I looked for someone to take pity. There was none as perhaps a reference to coming to the garden with the disciples and finding them asleep instead of praying. And then to the cross where they gave him gall for his meat.

And in his thirst, they gave him vinegar. Was it because he knew that he was to be rejected that he was weeping? I believe that it was not that he was to be rejected that caused the weeping. But the fact that he could see what tragedy would befall them because they did reject him.

He went ahead and he prophesied of the horrors that they were going to experience. The Roman troops will set a siege against thee. They will encircle thee. And he saw the starvation. He saw the calamities that would take place in the people as Josephus describes in vivid detail what was going on within the city of Jerusalem as a result of the siege by the Romans as they became hungrier and as they began to maraud and kill one another and the infighting within Jerusalem itself.

As Josephus said, they killed more of each other than the Romans killed. Jesus could see the little children being dashed in the streets. And he was weeping because of the tremendous price that they would have to pay because they did not know the day of his coming.

If they had only known this thy day, at least Jesus said in this thy day, the things that belong to your peace. If you only knew what God was wanting to do for you, at least in this thy day, but it's hid from your eyes.

Jesus Is the Way, the Truth, and the Life

Now let me digress for just a moment. Bear with me. Let's take a little side road. We'll come back to the main road in a moment. When Jesus was with his disciples four evenings later, having the Passover supper with them, after the supper, as he was talking to them, he was saying things that were very troubling to them.

He said, I'm going to go away from you now and where I'm going, you can't come right away. You will come later. They said, why can't we come with you? Peter said, Lord, I'll go with you wherever you go, even unto death.

And Jesus then predicted Peter's denial. And then he said, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. For in my father's house, there are many mansions. And if it were not so, I would have told you.

And I'm going to prepare a place for you. That where I am, there you may be also. And where I'm going, you know, in the way, you know. And Thomas, who never pretended to know anything, he didn't. Said, Lord, we don't know where you're going.

How can we know the way? And Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. And no man cometh to the father, but by me. And if you have known me, you should have known the father also. And from henceforth, you have known him and have seen him.

And Philip said unto him, Lord, just show us the father and it will suffice us. And Jesus said, have I not been so long a time with you, Philip? Haven't you seen me? He that hath seen me hath seen the father.

Let's go back now. Jesus is weeping. Jesus is weeping because the people, as the result of their blindness, are going to be exposed to such misery, such sorrow, such pain. Jesus said, if you have seen me, you have seen the father.

As they saw Jesus weeping over Jerusalem, they saw God weeping over the tragedy that a man brings upon himself when he rejects the Messiah as being king in his life. God said to Ezekiel, say to the people, as I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but I desire that the wicked would turn from his ways and live.

Turn, turn from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel? God weeping over the blindness of the people because he knows what it will cost them. God had appointed that they should receive their Messiah.

This was the day that the Lord had made. He had set the appointment, and now the day has come. The Messiah is riding in on a donkey, but rather than receiving him, he was set of knot by the leaders, by the rulers.

They despised and rejected him, and thus they've exposed themselves and their future generations unto bitter, heartache, tribulation, persecution. Even to the present day, they are still suffering as a nation because they had rejected God's son, whom he sent right on schedule to be their king.

Jerusalem's Future Repentance and the Return of the King

On another occasion, Jesus said, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you have killed the prophets. You have stoned those which were sent unto you. And how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would not.

Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, you shall not see me again until you say, blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord. I believe that Israel is coming to that point.

With all of the tragedy and the problems that they have, with all of the terrorism and their seeming inability to stop it, with all of the nations of the world seemingly opposed to them taking the proper and necessary means to stop the terrorist, I think that they're getting close to the place where they're going to say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

The Antichrist is going to come. He's going to deceive them for a while. But after three and a half years, their eyes will be open. They'll realize this fellow is a fraud. Their worst times are yet to come.

They're going to be driven from the land. They'll find refuge over in Jordan. But there they will begin to cry, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And their king will come again. This time he will come with all of his saints in the clouds of glory to establish the kingdom upon the earth.

And this time they will receive him. But all the pain and the misery that they've experienced through the centuries, because they didn't know the things that belong to their peace in this, the day that God had made.

A day of rejoicing, but it turned into a day of sorrow because though he came to his own, his own received him not. The promised Messiah. I believe that there is a day in every man's life that Jesus presents himself to that person as king.

Receiving or Rejecting Christ as King

And when that day comes, and this could be your day, a person either receives or rejects him as king. But as many as receive him, we read, God gives to them the power to become the sons of God, even to those who believe upon his name.

But to those that reject, we read in Hebrews, that if you continue in your sins, after you've come to the knowledge that he is the Messiah, God has made no other provision for your sins. So all you have to look forward to is that certain judgment and fiery indignation of God's wrath, which he will destroy his enemies.

For if a person despised Moses' law, they were put to death, how much greater punishment do you suppose the person will receive who has trodden under his foot, the son of God, who has disdained his blood, which was shed for our sins, who has despised the spirit of grace.

For the writer said, we know him who said, vengeance is mine and I will repay. And again, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God. As Jesus presents himself to you as king, either you crown him Lord of your life, or you turn your back, you despise the spirit of grace, you count the blood of his covenant as something that you're not interested in.

You trodden under your foot, the son of God. And there only awaits for you a certain fearful judgment of God that will come upon all of those who have rejected the king, because God has made no other provision for a man's salvation than through Jesus Christ.

As he said to the disciples, I am the way, the truth, the life, and no man comes to the father but by me. This could be your day. He is presenting himself to you you can do one of two things. Receive him as king or reject him as did the Jews.

And miss the peace of God that God would grant to you today. Miss the blessings that God wishes to bestow upon you. The blessings of knowing God and fellowshipping with God. Miss the joy of God's presence in your life, for in his presence there is fullness of joy.

This thy day. Jesus said, if you only knew the things that belong to your peace, this is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. The day of rejoicing for those that receive.

A day of sadness for those that reject. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the way that you keep your promises. That your promises do not fail. That even as you had promised 483 years after Artaxerxes signed that decree, the king came riding in on a donkey to present himself to the people.

Lord, even as you come to us this day, we pray that we might receive you as king of our lives. Submit and surrender ourselves to you that we might know the joy of fellowshipping with the living God. I pray father for those that are here that they too will join in receiving and acclaiming you as Lord of their lives.

In Jesus name. Amen. Shall we stand? This is the day that the Lord has made for you. And as you leave the church today, you either leave it having received him as king or having rejected. There are no other ways.

If you'd like to receive him as king and Lord of your life, the pastors are down here at the front of the church to pray for you. And I would encourage you as soon as we're dismissed that you would make your way forward and down to the front where these pastors are waiting for you.

And they're wanting to pray with you that you might experience the joy and the peace that only Jesus can bring to a troubled heart, to a troubled life. Your opportunity to crown him as Lord of your life.

And so we pray that God's spirit will work in a very special way and that you would respond to it by surrendering your life to Jesus. Now may the Lord be with you. Watch over and keep you in this week that is so important to the church.

The week in which we remember his death and we rejoice in his resurrection. May God bless you and just watch over you and keep you in his love. The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his grace.

The Lord lift up.