The Prophetic Cornerstone: Unveiling Psalm 118

Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast, where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.

My name is Pastor Josh and I want to thank you for listening to this podcast.

I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen you in the word of God.

Now come along, let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today.

We are at the the last of the Messianic prophecies that we're going to be looking at here in the month of December.

I said at the beginning of the December that all the Sunday nights and Wednesday nights, we're going to be looking at various prophecies that speak in the Old Testament to the coming Savior and fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

After this week, starting next Sunday night, we're going to get back to our study in the Book of Joshua.

Some of you know that we were there and we had gotten four chapters through.

Obviously Joshua was a lot bigger than four chapters, a lot, lot longer.

But we took a little break here in the month of December.

So we'll come back to that next week.

But I was struggling this week thinking which, which prophecy do I want to talk about?

Because there's so many.

Obviously, if you know that the Old Testament at all, you know that it speaks about Jesus throughout, from Genesis all the way to Malachi and obviously fulfilled throughout the New Testament as well.

So I just thought, well, you know what?

I want to go to one of my favorites, one of my favorite prophecies, and it's actually in one of my favorite chapters in all of the Bible.

I have a lot of favorite chapters, but one that I have found a lot of comfort and strength in is Psalm 118.

So if you have your Bibles, turn there with me to Psalm 118.

Many of you know Psalm 119.

It's a very long passage.

One hundred and fifty verses in Psalm 119.

Actually more than 150.

What's 170?

176.

So the longest book of the Bible or a chapter in the Bible, Psalm 119.

But right before that, in Psalm 118, we have a great passage of Scripture that speaks to the type of confidence that we can have when the Lord is on our side.

But in the midst of Psalm 118, we actually see a Messianic prophecy that is quoted many times in the New Testament.

It's actually quoted in the Book of Acts, it's quoted in the Gospels, it's quoted in First Peter, and it's quoted in Ephesians.

And so if it's quoted so many times in the New Testament, it's obviously a very important prophecy for us to understand and to know that it's fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

And so I want to take you to verse number 19 in Psalm 118, verse 19.

It kind of leads up to this prophecy, and then we're going to look at the New Testament and how it's fulfilled in Jesus Christ and what it means for us.

So Psalm 118, verse 19, it says this.

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.

So this is speaking of salvation.

This is speaking to knowing the righteousness of God.

Then he says, I will praise thee.

So, so there's praise that comes with this salvation.

For thou has heard me and art become my salvation.

So in this case, the psalmist is speaking of the salvation that he finds in the Lord.

And then we see in verse 22 it says, and the stone which the builders refuse is become the headstone of the corner.

Now, if you're reading that and kind of just glazing over it, you might not understand the implications here.

But he references some type of stone which the builders refuse.

Now, we're going to talk about what that means here in a little bit.

But he says that there's this stone that the people that are the religious builders of the day are going to refuse.

Now, we know that this is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, but at this time, we don't know if the psalmist has something in mind that he has in his own life.

And then obviously it's a dual meaning, or he's just prophetically speaking, here of a messianic prophecy.

But he says here that there is this stone that the builders refused, but that very stone will be the headstone of the corner, meaning that stone will be the cornerstone, it will be the foundation.

Verse 23 says, this is the Lord's doing, meaning this is a work of God.

This is not a work of man.

It is a marvelous in our eyes.

And so really the prophecy is found in verses 22 and 23.

And it's this, that there will be one that is to come who is the stone that many people will reject, the builders will refuse.

But that very stone will be the headstone of the corner, the cornerstone, the chief cornerstone.

And so I want to look at some of the fulfillment of that in the New Testament.

So if you have your Bibles ready, we're going to turn to A few passages.

The first one I want to take you to is actually Jesus quoting this very same passage.

And it's actually found in Matthew, Mark and Luke.

But we're going to go to Matthew's reference, and so turn there with me to the book of Matthew.

And it's in Matthew, chapter 21.

And we're going to look at Matthew, chapter 21 and verse number 42, Matthew, chapter 21, verse 42.

And we actually see that here in this passage, Jesus is going to actually reference this Old Testament passage.

And in the context of him being that chief cornerstone and the one stone that the builders would reject.

And so here in this passage of Scripture, we know that Jesus is.

He's giving some parables, many of you know the parable of the two sons, the parable of the vineyard.

And he says in verse number 42, Jesus saith unto them, did you never read in the Scriptures the stone which the builders rejected the same is become the head of the corner.

This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.

So again, Jesus quotes that very same passage.

And in this case, we know that he's speaking of the truth of him being the Messiah.

And ultimately we know that it's fulfilled in him.

And so I think it's important that Jesus quotes this passage.

But then later on in other passages, we see it in Mark and in Luke.

But then in Acts, chapter four, we see Peter, who walked with Jesus, actually referencing this messianic prophecy fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

And he's speaking to the Jewish people here.

And we went through a study in the book of Acts not too long ago.

And Peter quotes this in reference to Jesus in Acts, chapter 4, verse 11.

And this is Peter's famous sermon to the council there.

And he's giving them basically of the hope of the Gospel.

And he's referencing this passage as, hey, look, you've missed the point.

He says in verse number 10, be it known unto you and to all the people in Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified.

So he gives a scathing review of their actions.

He says, you are the ones that crucified him, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom he crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him, that this man stand here before you hold this is the stone which was set and not of builders, which has become the head of the corner.

And so here Peter references that passage in Psalm 118 as saying, Jesus is that stone which you builders rejected, which has become the Head of the corner.

And, and so obviously we know that many people rejected Jesus and we, we don't necessarily know everyone's name that rejected Jesus, obviously in Scripture, but we know that those religious leaders of the day definitely rejected Jesus.

Why?

Because it was a.

Is a rock of offense, which Peter is going to talk about later on in, in another passage of scripture that we're going to look at here this evening.

So that's another reference to Jesus being this, this stone that the builders reject.

Another passage of scripture that Paul alludes to this very same prophecy is in Ephesians chapter two.

Ephesians chapter two.

And I want you to follow along with me so you can see it.

We're going to get to the application of all this here in a few moments.

But I think it's important to see these different references because it's not just by happenstance that this was quoted, but many times Jesus has referred to this cornerstone, this sure foundation that was rejected by many and that's still rejected by many.

So Ephesians chapter 2, verse 20.

We'll start back up in verse number 19 to kind of understand context.

But this is talking about Jesus being our chief cornerstone.

It says, now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God.

So we're seeing in context he's talking about those that are believers in Jesus Christ.

He says, what are we built on and are built upon?

The foundation of the apostles and prophets.

Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye are also builded together for habitation of God through the Spirit.

Meaning this Jesus is the chief cornerstone that we build everything off of.

The church is a building, but not a physical building.

We know that this building is a blessing, and we call this our church building.

But this is not the church.

The church would be the people that are made up of the body, right?

We are the believers.

We are part of the body of Christ, therefore we are the church.

And so we are a spiritual building that Paul is going to talk about here and he's going to amplify a little bit later.

And then also Peter talks about this, that we're all living stones built up on a foundation.

And that foundation is Jesus Christ.

So, so we know that Jesus is that stone that many reject, but ultimately many do believe in and therefore have hope and find salvation.

And so we see that reference in Matthew where Jesus a reference is Psalm 118.

We see that reference in Acts chapter four, the reference in Ephesians, chapter two.

And then I want to take you to what I believe is the most exhaustive look at this messianic prophecy.

And that is in First Peter, Chapter 2, First Peter, Chapter 2.

And I think that this teaches it very well because for many people there, there might be a.

A struggle with understanding how these prophecies tied together.

But I think Peter does a great job in explaining this in.

In First Peter, chapter two, verse number seven.

And we can go back a little bit farther because he's giving that understanding of us being built up into a building.

And so let's go back to verse number four, actually, 1 Peter, chapter two, verse four.

And this is where we're going to spend really most of the rest of our time here, looking at this, because I want you to see why this is so important.

It's important, number one, because Jesus is the fulfillment of this prophecy.

But then why is it important?

What's the application of Jesus being the chief cornerstone?

So it says in First Peter, chapter two, verse four, to whom coming as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious.

So obviously we know that Jesus is that stone, and many people reject it.

But ultimately is a precious stone.

And then he says, ye, also you, you Christians, you that have believed are lively stones, are living stone, are built up a spiritual house.

And so there's a lot of analogies of what the church is.

But one analogy that we can say is that the church is a building, but not a physical building, a building made up of living stones, made up of.

Of people that are believers.

And so he says, you are living stones or lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, the holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

And so through Jesus Christ, we are able to build up a building, a spiritual building, which we can offer sacrifices to the Lord.

But we know that God doesn't ask us to do animal sacrifice anymore, but we are called to give a living sacrifice.

That's Romans, chapter 12, verse 6.

Wherefore also it is contained in Scripture.

Behold, I lay in Sion a chief cornerstone elect, precious.

And he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.

So this speaks to the blessing and the clarity and the comfort and the confidence of those who trust in that one who is the chief cornerstone, which we already know is Jesus Christ, verse 7.

Unto you, therefore, which believe he is precious, meaning the stone is a precious stone to those who believe.

Why?

Because we understand the blessings of having a relationship with Jesus Christ, the blessings of his presence, the blessings of his comfort, the blessings of his forgiveness, the blessings of his salvation.

So for us who are believers, or for the believer, Jesus is precious.

And that cornerstone is a precious thing.

But then he says in verse number seven, unto you, therefore, which believe he is precious, but unto them which be disobedient.

So those who don't believe in Jesus, those that are in rebellion to him.

The stone which the builders disallowed, that's a reference back to that passage in Psalm 118.

The same is made the head of the corner.

So doesn't matter if people reject him or believe in Him.

He's still the chief cornerstone.

He's still the King of Kings, he's still the Lord of Lords.

And so he explains here that for some.

For some people, verse 8, the stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.

Even to them which stumble at the word meaning.

For some people, Jesus is the stumbling block.

There's a lot of people that like religion.

There's a lot of people that want to be moral.

There's a lot of people who want to have the blessings of some type of spirituality and might even believe that there is a God out there.

But when we boil it down to Jesus being the way, the truth and the life, there are many people that that is the stumbling block.

Well, I believe that there's a God, but Jesus is.

No, no, no, that's that they can't be right.

We all can believe in some higher power and be okay.

We don't have to be narrowed down to the One.

And that's what we see here is that too many people.

Jesus is the rock of stumbling.

It's the offense.

Even go back to the book of Acts.

Remember, there were people that believed in God, but the fact that the apostles were saying that Jesus is God, that was the stumbling block for them.

That's what led them to persecute those apostles.

That's what led them to get to a place of anger.

Now we know that, that they didn't believe in God.

They.

They said that they believed in God, but the Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life.

No man cometh unto the Father but by me.

So there's a lot of people trying to reach God, but not through Jesus Christ.

And we know that that's a vain task.

That's an empty path that will ultimately lead to judgment.

So he says, a stone of stumbling in a rock of offense.

Even to them which stumble at the word being disobedient where unto also they were appointed.

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation of peculiar people that ye should be show forth the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

So the Bible says that those who believe can understand completely, maybe in some way completely, what it means to know Jesus and to walk in that marvelous light, that we can know that we're different, that we know that we're holy, that we know that we're separated, we know that we're distinct.

And so when we go back to Psalm 118, we see that the.

The stone in which the builders rejected is Jesus.

A lot of.

Of the people at the time did not approve of his origin.

They did not approve of his.

His.

His upbringing.

They did not approve of where he was from.

Remember, they even scoffed at the fact that he was from Nazareth.

They.

They didn't like his teaching.

What was so offensive about Jesus teaching?

Well, it was contrary to the common norms of the day.

The Pharisees were abusing people.

The Pharisees were stuck in their legalism.

The Pharisees thought that they were pious and that they were above everybody else and no one could reach their status.

We know that they were abusing the widows.

We know that they were loving money.

There was all this corruption.

And when Jesus came and preached the truth, there was a lot of offense there.

And that's what happens today.

If people call a Christian offensive, let's be Christians who are offensive for the right reasons.

Like there's some Christians that are offensive just to be offensive.

And I don't think that's a good testimony.

I don't think that we should stir the pot and be angry people.

There are a lot of Christians that wear the badge of honor to say, you know what, I'm just going to stir the pot and try to get people upset with me.

But we do need to be different.

And so the way that we offend people is by preaching the truth, by loving them when they don't deserve love, by being forgiving, being like Jesus and doing things that are against the cultural norms of our day.

And so what we can see here in this passage is that Jesus is the one who came and was offensive, but he wasn't offensive because he was doing things that were wrong.

He was offensive because he was doing things that were right.

And so this is obviously true in the fact that now as a.

As a church, we don't build our actions and our reactions and our plans and our purpose on anything outside of the cornerstone of Jesus Christ.

So this chief cornerstone is fulfilled in Jesus.

We see that many people rejected Jesus, but nonetheless he still is the one who is in control.

And so him being the chief cornerstone simply means that we are to build everything that we do off of his truth, off of his sacrifice, off of his salvation.

And so the psalmist here is writing in Psalm 118 that this is all the Lord's doing.

So the fact that Jesus is the chief cornerstone is not a work of man.

It's only something that we can do, is rejoice and realize how marvelous it is.

And so if you go back to Psalm 118, we see really the proper response to understanding of who the chief cornerstone is.

And the proper response is worship.

The proper response is honor.

The proper response is to align ourselves with his truth.

And, and if you read Psalm 118, you can see essentially what the psalmist is talking about here is understanding that in times of difficulty God is with us and that he's with us not only in the physical, but in the spiritual and salvation.

In verses 19, all the way to the end of the chapter is essentially a, a passage of praise.

And so the, the stone in which the builders refused has become the head stone of the corner.

This is the Lord's doing.

It is marvelous in our eyes.

So our response to recognizing that Jesus is the chief cornerstone means that we are to marvel at it.

Verse 24.

This is the day which the Lord hath made.

We will rejoice and be glad in it that that's the proper response.

We say, okay, no matter what's going on, Jesus is the chief cornerstone.

So I'm going to rejoice because the Lord has made this day.

I'm going to be glad in it.

I'm going to be.

And I can tell you that Psalm 118 is a passage of Scripture.

In one of the more difficult periods of my life, I needed to go to every single day because.

And if I can be transparent with you here this evening, there were times and days in my Christian walk that I was tempted not to be thankful for that day.

Actually wake up in the morning and go, really, again, this is happening.

And, and the way that we can get victory over some of the struggles in our life is just to meditate upon scripture.

And Psalm 118 was one of those passages of Scripture.

I remember one night in particular, I could not sleep.

I was really wrestling with some things and I went downstairs into my living room and I just got down on my hands and knees and I was just Asking the Lord to give me some type of peace and clarity.

And for some reason, God led me to Psalm 118.

And I just read through this passage over and over again.

And when I got to verse number 24, it was just a reminder that this is not just on the days that are good.

He says, this is the day that the Lord hath made.

Today is the day.

No matter what you've gone through, today is the day which the Lord hath made.

We will rejoice and be glad in it.

Save now, I beseech the O Lord, oh, Lord, I beseech thee, Send now prosperity.

And a lot of times we think of that word prosperity, and we think of, like, material blessings.

But I believe in this case, obviously, it's talking more on the level of spiritual prosperity.

And spiritual prosperity is promised to us.

That's the book of Ephesians.

We.

We do have that depth of endless riches in Christ Jesus when it comes to the spiritual side of things.

And when we think about it that way.

Verse 26.

Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

We have blessed you out of the house of the Lord.

God is the Lord which has showed us light.

Find the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.

Thou art my God, and I will praise thee.

Thou art my God, and I will exalt thee.

Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good for his mercy endureth forever.

So I think the proper response to understanding that Jesus is the chief cornerstone is that he is in control.

He ultimately has ordained certain things to happen in my life, or at least allow certain things to happen in my life.

And I must, at some point in time, recognize that I have to submit myself to him.

No matter if it's an easy situation or difficult situation, say, lord, you are in control.

I'm building my life off of you.

If I would have.

If you would have asked me, let's say, even 20 years ago, draw up your life.

Draw up your dream life.

Draw up your plans.

And by the way, I am a planner.

So I remember back when I was in school, high school, I had written this big, long letter about what I wanted my life to be one day.

And I had, you know, where I was going to live, what I was going to do, what I thought I would be doing at that time for work.

And I can tell you I went back to read that not too long ago.

And I'm like, almost none of this is what I planned, other than I wanted to be married and I wanted to have children.

Okay, so those two things came to pass, but everything else was different.

And I think all of us at some point in our lives would recognize that we had certain agendas or plans that we might have.

And then God comes in and he might change that script completely.

And I know for me, it wasn't until I said, lord, you are in control of my life.

I'm going to give this over to you.

And then that's when he started doing things in my life and directing me in certain areas that I never thought.

And I think that we look at all these different Bible individuals, David, Jacob, Abraham, all the way through, even into the New Testament, Paul and Peter.

I guarantee you their plans were not to do those things that they were doing.

But God came in and intervened and changed their life.

And so for.

For us to have the Lord as our chief cornerstone means, okay, there's a certain part where I am no longer the foundation.

I am no longer the source of hope.

Now I go to Jesus and I say, lord, what can I build upon what you have given?

And in that case, God's going to build a different type of building.

He's going to build a different path.

And for different people, it means different things.

But what I can tell you is that the response should be, oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever.

And so to know that Jesus is the chief cornerstone, and to know that if we live for him, the Bible says that there will be people who are against him, and if we are for him, they will be against us.

And.

And the reality is, is that most of us want to be loved, want to be accepted, want to be celebrated.

But if we live for Jesus, there will be people who are against what we say and what we do.

And I don't want that to offend you.

I don't want that to scare you.

But what I will say is that when Jesus is our chief cornerstone, it really doesn't matter what other people think.

If you go back in Psalm 118, there's a verse here that struck a chord in my life.

Verse 6 says, the Lord is on my side.

I will not fear what can man do unto me.

That's the type of perspective that we have when we understand Jesus order stuff.

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 put the trust in the Lord than put confidence in princes.

I think that that's a great testimony to have in our life.

It's better to put our faith in God than anything else.

And when we understand that Jesus is our chief cornerstone, it's more than just a prophecy fulfilled.

It changes the way that we live.

It changes the way that we respond.

It changes the way that we plan our lives.

You know, for me, and I'm not saying that I'm perfect, but at the stage of life that I'm in right now, when we're trying to make a family decision, we put it through not just what we want, what makes sense to us, but we put it through the prayer, put it through prayer.

We put it through the word of God, and we say, okay, is there peace here?

Is there confidence here?

Is this something that we want our children to understand?

Do we want our children, and this is just way of testimony.

Do we want our children to see us making impulsive decisions, or do we want us to see our children to see us making decisions based in the will of God?

Sometimes the will of God is not in our time.

And so for me, one of the things that I'm trying to work on when it comes to understanding Jesus as my chief cornerstone is to say, lord, I'm not going to move until you tell me to move.

But then when he tells you to move, then.

Then you got to move.

And that's sometimes what happens.

Sometimes we're the opposite.

Sometimes we're ready to go, and then God bless me when I do.

And sometimes when God tells us to move, we're like, no, no, no, that's not what I'm ready for.

But biblically speaking, it should be the other way around.

I need to wait upon the Lord, and when the Lord spurs me to move, when he sets me forward, I need to take action right away.

You know, we're working with our kids on obedience, right?

Proper obedience is not, okay, I'll do that tomorrow.

Proper obedience is not.

Well, I'll get to that when it's comfortable for me or when it's convenient for me.

Proper obedience is obeying right away with the right spirit, with the right heart.

And that's sometimes for us as Christians, we reluctantly do what God tells us to do and almost wear it as a badge of honor that we're struggling for Jesus.

But at the other side of things, biblically speaking, biblical obedience and Christlike obedience is to say, yes, I'm going to do it.

I'm going to do it right away.

I'm going to do it with joy, and I'm going to do it With Thanksgiving.

You know, there are days where I wake up and there are certain things that I'm called to do in my life that are a struggle.

I think all of us understand that to love your neighbor is sometimes a difficult thing to.

To be patient with others, to not respond with evil is sometimes a hard thing to do.

But at the end of the day, we do it out of the abundance of joy that we have in walking with Jesus Christ.

None of us are going to be perfect, but all of us can check ourselves to say, you know, what, what does this prophecy mean for me?

What, what, what do any of these prophecies.

Jesus was supposed to be born in Bethlehem.

He was born in Bethlehem.

What does that mean for me?

That's not just a cool fact that we have.

It's confirmation after confirmation that God's word is true.

And I want to tell you that that fulfilled prophecy is an amazing thing for us to see.

And it should not only change what we think about, but it also should change the way that we live our lives and what we do, how we respond.

Folks, I'm just at a point in time right now, and we look around in this world today and we see so much going on.

We see so many people with so many distractions, and I just, I can't think.

Redeeming the time for the days are evil.

I think it's so much more clear today than it was maybe even five years ago.

Like, we, we only have so much time and we're called to do something for the Lord in that time frame.

And I, I don't know about you, but I'm a professional time waster.

So good at procrastinating.

I'm so good with coming up with excuses to do something tomorrow, but then tomorrow something comes up, I'll get that another time.

I'm gonna reach out to that person another time.

I'm gonna start that ministry another time when it's more convenient.

If you remember there, there was an individual that said, you know what?

In the Book of Acts, he says, you know what?

I'll believe in that at a more convenient time.

Folks, I'm going to tell you, that was like when we were thinking about having children, you know, at one point in time.

And we were like, when we have enough money, we'll have children, or if we have enough time.

Someone came up to me and they said, you're never going to have enough time, money, or patience, but just, just do it.

You know, the reality is, is that we can stay here and have every excuse in the world not to serve the Lord.

Or we can say, today is the day the Lord hath made, we'll rejoice and be glad in it and just push forward to do what we need to do for Jesus Christ.

And I'm going to encourage you to think about that.

I'm going to encourage you to think about what it means to be in the will of God.

This, and someone used to tell me this all the time, and I didn't really understand it until later on.

But the safest place to be, the most rewarding place to be, the most joyful place to be, is in the will of God.

Doesn't mean that everything's going to go well.

But at the end of the day, we can have the peace that passeth all understanding.

And even if people are against us, even if people are not happy with every decision that we make, even if the workplace is difficult, even if we're having struggles at home, what we can say is, that's okay, because I've got Jesus Christ, I can come home and I can have the joy of the Lord being my strength, as the book of Nehemiah says.

But that all stems from an understanding that Jesus Christ is the chief forester.

I don't want Jesus to be the stone of offense, the stone of stumbling.

I want Jesus to be the stone that's precious in my life.

And so build everything off of that sure foundation.

Build your families off of that sure foundation.

Build your life off of that sure foundation.

Build your marriages off that sure foundation.

Build your workplace and that sure foundation.

And I can tell you that even though it might not always be easy, it's definitely going to be the safest, blessed, rewarding place to be, is when you're walking in the will of God.

Cornerstone.

And so that's the last prophecy.

It's just one that I wanted to bring to your attention here.

Many of you know that prophecy.

It's one that I find very interesting because it's quoted.

Jesus quotes it, Paul quotes it, Luke quotes it, as Peter quotes it there, and then Peter in Testament.

So many different folks quote that passage.

And I thought that it was a really interesting prophecy to look at.

There's so many more.

I would encourage you at some point in time, if you can, you want to do a different study, look into the prophecies.

Look into the prophecies of the Old Testament, man.

There's so much.

If you want to look through the book of Isaiah, Jeremiah, if you really want to get interesting, you go Zechariah and Ezekiel, there's so many really awesome prophecies about things that have come, things that are happening now, and things that will come to pass.

I think that's important.

And the other aspect of prophecy that really gives me a challenge is this.

If God has been right about everything so far, he's right about what is to come.

So if we're tempted to think that the future is going to be uncertain, hey, you know what?

There might be like circumstantial uncertainty in this world, but there's certainty about what's going to happen at the end, comes out on top and what happens when it comes to the end of the world.

And so I want you to just think about that.

If God's been true about everything, he's going to be true about what he says about tomorrow.

And so that gives peace and comfort.

And I know that for a lot of people, like end times and thinking about the country and politics and world, chaos kind of gives people like an unsettling feeling as Christians.

And I can understand that to some degree.

But also what we have to understand is that God has it under control.

We know where we're going, we know what's happening, and all we do is we just stay faithful and God will reveal to us the right things at the right time.

You know, I often think, why didn't God address this in Scripture?

So a random topic, I'll think.

I didn't say this.

Why didn't he say that?

And I think that ultimately what the message that I. I've come away with is this.

Everything that we need to know is right here.

You know, there's a lot of things that I want to know.

Maybe one day God will reveal those things to me.

But there's everything that I need to know right here in the Word of God.

And the more I love this, the more I love him, the more I'm able to walk in confidence.

So I wanted you to think about that here this evening as we conclude.

So we will come back on Sunday evenings and we're going to be looking at the Book of Joshua.

If you want to have a somewhat of a refresher, just read through the first four chapters of the book of Joshua.

It's not that long.

So basically, in the book of Joshua, they've crossed the Jordan river, they're into the.

The promised land.

But there's going to be some more conflicts that they're going to face.

And ultimately God's going to.

So I'm excited to continue on in the Book of Joshua.

It's one of my favorite books of the Bible.

And also too, I will say this this summer, sight and sound is Joshua.

So you can get prepared for the story there and we can see it and we, you guys can be like me.

We can go in and we can critique it.

Is it biblically accurate or not?

Okay, most of the time they are.

Of course, we know there's got to be those creative liberties, but you know, well, let's go ahead and close in a word of prayer and then I'll have a few announcements for you guys and then we'll be dismissed.

Lord, I thank you for this time that you've given us.

Thank you for this opportunity to come together here tonight to continue studying your Word and specifically in regards to prophecy.

Lord, we thank you for many of the prophecies that we talked about and many that we haven't.

Where the fact that Jesus is the fulfillment of all of these things is such an amazing truth where we know that you sent your only begotten Son for us as the chief cornerstone.

But we know many people, many people rejected, many people did not understand, many people understood but did not want to follow in faith, Lord, but help us as your church to follow, Lord, to trust and to build our lives upon the cheap cornerstone of Jesus Christ, Lord.

Help us to have joy in that.

Help us to see him as something precious to our lives above all.

And so, Lord, I pray that we can be the church as you called us to be, Lord.

Help us to find that comfort and strength in the midst of chaotic world.

Help us to turn to your truth.

Help us to be sanctified by your truth, Lord.

Help us to grow in our faith as your Word says, faith come with my hearing and hearing by the word of God.

So help us to be so engrossed in your Word so that we can grow in our faith to know you in a more personal way.

So Lord, I pray that you be with our our fellowship follow.

I pray that you can encourage our hearts here coming into the new and we ask all these things of Jesus.

Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast.

I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.

You would like to find out more information about our church or this sermon?

You can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org or find find us on Facebook or YouTube.

You can also email me directly at Josh Massaro at middletownbaptistchurch.

Com.

If you've enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and follow along for future podcast and updates.

Thank you so much.

God Bless.

Have a wonderful day.