SERMON TITLE: Save Us!
SCRIPTURE: Psalm 118:19-29 (ESV)
SPEAKER: Josh Hanson
DATE: 4-13-25
Sermon Discussion Guide
Take notes here
As always it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And there’s one thing I want you to know — and this is true if you’re worshiping with us for the first time — if you’re joining us at our North Main Campus or are with our friends in Bucyrus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.
We’re taking a break from our Romans series as today begins Holy Week in the Christian tradition — this is the week where we remember all that happened leading up to, during, and after Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.
And — if you have your Bible — we’ll be looking at Psalm 118 for this Palm Sunday. Earlier — if you’re at one of our Gateway campuses — a passage from Luke’s gospel was read. It described what happened leading up to Jesus arriving in Jerusalem. Our psalm for today — Psalm 118 — is one of many passages in the Old Testament that we find being fulfilled upon Jesus’ arrival and entrance into the city.
For example — in Matthew’s gospel — similar to Luke’s — we read…
Matthew 21:8–11 ESV
8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” 10 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”
Now the crowd’s shouting was most likely singing. But what did they sing? They were singing psalms about living in exile and the hopeful return to their homeland. Thus — in verse 9 — when the crowds shout, “Hosanna” they’re shouting, “Save us we pray! Save us King Jesus!” A quote which is from our psalm.
Let me show you. Here are the words found in Psalm 118 — beginning in verse 19.
Psalm 118:19–29 ESV
19 Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. 20 This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it. 21 I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. 22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. 23 This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. 24 This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. 25 Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success! 26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord. 27 The Lord is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar! 28 You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you. 29 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!
I’m sure you saw it — but in case you missed it — in Matthew the people were quoting verses 25 and 26 of our psalm.
Psalm 118:25–26 ESV
25 Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success! 26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord.
What we’re going to do is briefly look at — one — what we think we need saved from — two — what God knows we need saved from — and three — what it means for today to be the day of salvation. Again — what do we think we need to be saved from. What God knows we need saved from. And — finally — what it means for today to be the day of salvation.
So — first — what do we think we need to be saved from? Make it personal: what do you think you need to be saved from?
The people who were shouting, “Save us” — thought they knew what they needed to be saved from: the oppressive occupation of the Roman Empire. In fact — the oppressive occupation of foreign nations is a recurring theme for the Jewish people throughout the Bible. A foreign nation occupying their land was often the consequence for the sinful rebellion and unfaithfulness of God’s people. In fact — our psalm — is a song meant to celebrate God giving them victory over hostile nations. It’s a psalm sung during the time of Passover. If you don’t know — the Passover will be celebrated just a few days after Jesus’ arrival at Jerusalem — because the Passover is the pinnacle moment in the nation of Israel’s history. It’s the quintessential example of God triumphing over an enemy on their behalf.
The Israelites had been enslaved in Egypt for hundreds of years — but the time of their rescue was at hand. Through the prophet Moses — God brought judgment upon Pharaoh and the entire land of Egypt — through the ten plagues. The final plague was the death of all firstborn males in Egypt. But here’s the catch: Not even the Israelites were exempt from this plague. The only way to avoid the death of the firstborn was to — in faith — follow God’s instruction of sacrificing a lamb and putting its blood on the doorpost of your home. For God promised that the angel of death would see the blood and pass over — thus the name — the homes and the firstborn males would live.
Now everything happens just as God said it would. The Egyptians suffer incredible loss and the Israelites — because they believed God and trusted him — escaped from the hands of Pharaoh by the victorious hand of God. Again — the ultimate “save us, we pray, O LORD” moment in the Jewish people’s history. A moment they remembered every year when they celebrated the Passover meal.
So — back to this moment when the people are shouting “save us” — what do they think they need to be saved from? From the Roman occupation. That’s what their eyes can see. Yet — we know that their eyes are looking in the wrong direction — and it’s not even a new wrong direction for them. For we read of moments like this one from earlier in Jesus’ life where — after miraculously feeding more than 5,000 people…
John 6:15 ESV
15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
A king who can feed your empty belly — and thousands of others — by means of a miracle — is a king who can definitely kick the Romans out of your backyard, right? And that’s what the people thought they needed to be saved from most.
What do you think you need to be saved from? If the word “save” bothers you — “rescue” is a fine synonym — what do you think you need to be rescued from?
Yet — here’s what we learn from our psalm and its fulfillment in the life of Jesus: God knows exactly what we need to be saved — or rescued from — most. We find this in verses 19 and 20.
Psalm 118:19–20 ESV
19 Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. 20 This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it.
We’ll talk more about these verses on Easter Sunday but — for now — notice that it’s only the righteous who will enter into the city through this gate. Which leads us to an important question: What does it mean to be righteous?
To be righteous means to be right with God. To have a right relationship with God — to be in good standing with him.
Now — the thinking of our day is that everyone is right with God. We think this because many have become comfortable with a god who has lower expectations of us than we have of others. What do I mean? Think of all we see going on in our culture today. The expectations that one must meet in order to be an insider — or on the right side — or to be trusted — have never been this rigorous and demanding. And it doesn’t matter what kind of group we’re talking about: all groups have made the qualifications to be an insider more narrow and specific than ever before.
This is why political parties are divided — and I don’t mean the divide between Republicans and Democrats. I mean how Republicans are divided among Republicans. And Democrats are divided with their fellow Democrats. It used to be enough that someone was part of your political party — but that’s no longer the case. Now it’s a matter of “did you vote for so and so?” Because we know that anyone who’s a real — fill in the blank with either political party — definitely voted for so and so. And — not only voted for them — but fully endorses anything they’ve said and done or will say and do. That’s why any critique from within a party is seen as betrayal. Because — to be right with a political party — these days — is to check all of the boxes. High — and very specific — expectations must be met.
But then — when it comes to God and his expectations of what it means to be right with him — well he’s not that picky, right? Surely he’s got very low expectations of what it means to be right with him. Nothing like the expectations of political parties today.
But what if God’s expectations were not low — but high. Very high. Much higher than even what we find in our political parties. Expectations like…
Matthew 5:48 ESV
48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
What if perfection is God’s standard of being right with him? Perfection according to what? According to the law and commands that God’s given to us. Commands like…
If we’re honest with ourselves — all of us will acknowledge that we’ve not perfectly obeyed what God has commanded — which means — we’re unrighteous. And Scripture agrees.
Romans 3:10 ESV
10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;
Romans 3:23 ESV
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
1 John 1:8 ESV
8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
Ecclesiastes 7:20 ESV
20 Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.
Psalm 14:2–3 ESV
2 The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. 3 They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.
Hopeless sounding news that sets up the most glorious news in all of history. For…
Psalm 118:24–26 ESV
24 This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. 25 Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success! 26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord.
You see — from our moment in history — we know something the crowd didn’t yet understand: Jesus was entering Jerusalem — not to overthrow the Romans — but to defeat Satan, sin, death, and Hell once and for all. He was entering Jerusalem as the King of kings and Lord of lords who would lay down his life as the sacrifice for the sins of his unrighteous people. Where — instead of the blood of a lamb being put on the doorposts of our homes — the blood of Jesus would cover our sins so that the judgment of eternal death would pass over us — and all who put their faith in him — the Righteous One of God.
For Jesus is the only righteous person who’s ever lived. He did not sin. He perfectly obeyed all of the commandments that we’ve disobeyed. He only did his Father’s will — including entering Jerusalem — the city where he’d be killed. This too was a day that the Lord had made — and Jesus — because of the joy set before him — entered Jerusalem knowing that the cross — and all of its agony — was just before him. For this was the answer to our prayer, “Save us, O Lord! Give us success! Rescue us. Give us triumph over — not only the enemies that we see — but even over what we don’t know is our greatest foe.”
Which is what will happen in just a few days. Our salvation — and the salvation of all who put their hope in Christ alone — will be made secure. And the only proper response to such good news is to declare that…
Psalm 118:28–29 ESV
28 You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you. 29 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!
We’re to praise God with thanksgiving — for he’s rescued us. Though unrighteous — we were not unloved. Though disobedient — we were not discarded. Though rebellious — we were not abandoned. Though faithless — God remained faithful to us because he cannot deny who he is.
This is the hope of our psalm and what Holy Week helps us to remember. That our God is good. And his steadfast love endures forever. And the proof of his goodness and love is Jesus. The one who knew exactly what he was doing and what he was going to experience as he entered Jerusalem — for he knew what we needed to be rescued from most. And — though it would cost him his life — Jesus rode straight into the city. Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, you are perfect, good, and loving. As the one who created all things — you rightly have given us commands that we’re to obey. Including “be perfect.” Yet we must confess — otherwise we’re nothing more than liars — so we confess that we are not perfect — thus we’ve failed to obey you.
Holy Spirit, what is bad news becomes the path to good news as you use our confession to draw us to the One who is perfect. As you open our eyes to see — in faith — what it means to be loved by him who gave his life for our sin. And — in seeing what it means to be loved in this way — we’re thankful — even with a pile of debt. And hopeful — even as we mourn the death of someone we love. And joyful even at rock bottom, or with a diagnosis, or a lifeless marriage, or whatever we used to think was what we needed to be saved from most. For we now see that what we need to be rescued from most is what Jesus has saved us from.
And you — Jesus — our Savior and King — the miracle-working God who fed thousands and walked on water — is the one who allowed us to falsely accuse you, and beat you, and crucify you. And — you did so — because you are good — and your steadfast love endures forever.
So we give you thanks — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — for you are good. And your love endures forever. And this is the day that you have made and we will rejoice and be glad in it. And may today be day one of rejoicing for some who hear my voice — day one because it’s the day of their salvation. The day of their rescue. The day when they believe in Jesus for the first time. The day when they cry out, “Save me, O Lord. Save me.” And we pray all of this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
May you go giving thanks to our saving Lord — for he is good — and his steadfast love endures forever. Amen.
God loves you. I love you. You are sent.
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