We ended our message last Wednesday
night by reading this psalm. This is how we ended the service. And we read it in light of these
words being the heart's cry. of a child of God that knows
and is assured of and is resting in the fact that the Lord Jesus
Christ reigns and rules over all things. Thy God reigneth. That was last Wednesday night's
message. The child of God that knows that
can find peace, and assurance in these words, just like David
did. In reading this, I was so blessed,
I just felt led to look at it more deeply and bring it for
our message this morning. But before we get into it, I
want to consider this first. I want us to just really consider
this first. Verse one says, the Lord is my
shepherd. Only a sheep can say that. This
is where we're going to start. Only a sheep can say that. Those who are God's elect, those
who were chosen before the foundation of the world to be saved, saved
from their sins, saved on purpose. Do you know that's how all people
were saved, are saved on purpose. On purpose, I think of that story
that's told years ago over in England or somewhere like that,
a pastor was working in his front yard and a woman walked by and
walked up to the fence and said, you're the pastor of that church
in the village, aren't you? And he said, yes, I am. She said,
you preach election, don't you? And he said, well, yeah, yeah,
I do. It's in the Bible, yeah. And she said, well, I don't know
about that. I don't think I can go along with that. I just don't,
I don't see how that's possible. I don't believe that. I don't,
and he said, well, let me ask you this. Are you saved? She
said, oh yeah, oh yeah, I'm saved. And she said, well, who saved
you? Did God save you or did you save yourself? She said,
God saved me. He said, well, did he do it on
purpose or was it an accident? She said he did it on purpose.
And he said, well, ma'am, that's election. God saving soul on
purpose. Election is the number one most
loving truth and character of God that could
ever be declared. That he, because all men and
women were just so, but God, would reach his hand down and
say, God purposed to save a people
from their sins before the foundation of the world. He didn't have
to save anybody. He did not have to save anybody. Had he not saved
anybody and had he let everyone run headfirst into condemnation
and hell, he would have been just, he would have been right. But God, he chose to redeem a
people. The scripture calls them a remnant. And they are referred to as sheep.
And sadly, those who were not chosen are referred to as goats. Sheep and goats. Turn with me
over to Matthew 25. Matthew 25. Verse 31, when the son of man shall come
in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then shall he
sit upon the throne of his glory and before him shall be gathered
all nations. And he shall separate them one
from another as a shepherd divided his sheep from the goats. And
he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on
the left. Then shall the king say unto
them on his right hand, come ye blessed of my father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Now look at verse 41. Then shall he say also unto them
on the left hand, depart from me ye cursed into everlasting
fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Every soul on
this earth is either a sheep or a goat. And if we wanna know
which one we are, here's how we can know. We're gonna start
the message with this. We're not gonna end the message
with this. Right now, if we want to know which one we are, this
is how we can know. All of God's sheep will be given
a heart to love God for who he is in all of his sovereignty,
in all of his authority, in all of his glory. They will love
him for all of his word. All of God's sheep will be given
a heart to love his sovereignty in election. Rather than saying, I'm not going
to hear that. I don't believe that. I don't
like that. All of God's sheep will be given a heart to love
and thank God for election in choosing beforehand who he would
redeem. And the reason is because all
of God's sheep have been given eyes to see what they truly are
by nature. Do you know who he elected? Sinners. My name is Gabe Stoniker and
I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner against God, I'm
a rebel before God in my flesh. I've sinned against God, I've
sinned against you, I've sinned against myself. I'm a sinner. Those who are righteous or see
themselves to be righteous in the flesh and good in the flesh
and all good, you know, I'm right with God, those are goats. All of God's sheep cry, God,
be merciful to me. I'm the sinner. I'm the sinner. Oh, I'm the sinner. God's sheep
see what they are by nature. They see something, not completely,
but they see something of the depth of their sin against God,
and they know that had God not chosen them, they would have
never chosen God. Had God not chosen me, I would
have never chosen him. They know that His particular
redemption, it was a particular grace on His part. It was a particular
kindness. It was a particular mercy. It
was a particular love. And therefore, they love Him
for it. They love Him for it. God's sheep
love Him because He first loved them. Goats have not receive
that heart and they will not be given that heart of love for
Christ in His sovereignty in all of these things, for who
Christ truly is. Everybody has a Jesus made up
in their mind. But it doesn't match this Jesus. It doesn't match Jesus the Christ. And then they read in the pages
of this book what it says about Jesus the Christ and they're
like, now hold on now. That's not my Jesus. God's sheep are given a heart
to love Jesus Christ for who he is, for who he truly is. We
love what this book says about him. We love his sovereign election.
We love his sovereign grace. Grace is a gift. You know, salvation's a gift
given by God. Christ is the gift. And it's
a sovereign gift. It's not just blanketly out there
for whoever wants to take it. It's a particular gift. Again, it's a sovereign mercy.
You know, our Lord said, I will show mercy to whom I will show
mercy. I'll be merciful on whom I will
be merciful. Whoever I'm pleased to show mercy
to, that's who I'm going to show mercy to. I will be gracious
to whom I'm pleased to be gracious to. That's sovereignty. Yes,
no, that's sovereignty. And God's sheep cry to him, I
know I'm worthy to be a no, but I'm begging you, please let me
be a yes. That's the heart they're giving. Hail sovereign love. Sovereign
love. Goats hate hearing about God
being God. Goats would prefer to hear that
they are God. Now the choice is yours. The
decision is yours. What are you going to do with
Jesus? What's Jesus Christ going to
do with us? We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Goats hate hearing about who
he truly is and what he truly has done. Not what he's trying to do, but
what he's done. And they say, I will not have that
man reign over me. I do not believe what this word
says about him. I will not bow to him. I will
not love him. I will not cling to him as my
only hope of glory. Let me show you that in John
10. John 10 verse 11, our Lord said,
I am the good shepherd. The good
shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. Isn't that amazing?
You ever known a shepherd to die for his sheep? Have you ever
known a shepherd? Of all the centuries of shepherding
that has gone on, you ever known a shepherd to lay down his life
for a sheep? Especially a diseased, vile,
rotten, stubborn, rebellious sheep like me? The good shepherd made himself
to be the lamb slain. He took the place of his sheep. That's amazing. Verse 14 right
here, he said, I am the good shepherd and know my sheep and
am known of mine. They know me, they hear me, they
believe on me, they follow me. Verse 24, then came the Jews
round about him and said unto him, how long dost thou make
us to doubt? We're doubting you. We're doubting
what you're saying. Thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.
Jesus answered them, I told you and you believed not. The works
that I do in my father's name, they bear witness of me, but
you believe not because you are not of my sheep, as I said unto
you. He didn't say, you're not my
sheep because you didn't believe what I said to you. That's not
what he said. What he said was, you don't believe because you're
not one of my sheep. Verse 27, my sheep hear my voice
and I know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal
life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. God will give every one of his
sheep faith to hear that and to believe that and to be convinced
and persuaded of that to the fullest degree. And when God gives that faith
to his child and that child is assured of that promise and knows
it and believes it, that's the moment that the child of God,
the sheep of God, will say with David in Psalm 23, these are
the things I'm assured of. By the faith and the love that
he's given to me, these are the things that I know to be so.
These are the things that I'm hanging my hat of hope on. All my hope is hanging right
here. Now let's go back to Psalm 23 and look at him. Verse 1, David said, The Lord. That's where everything starts,
isn't it? That's where everything starts.
It starts with the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ. You know
what the scripture says about Him? It says He is King of kings
and Lord of lords. The greatest The highest, Colossians
117 says, he is before all things and by him all things consist. That means he's Lord by creation. He's Lord by ownership in creation. Acts chapter two says he is Lord
by salvation. It says because he was crucified
and slain, God the Father has declared him to be Lord and Christ. You know, people say, won't you make
him Lord? Too late. The Father's already done that. Philippians 2 says, for the same
reason, because he humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. It says every single tongue is
going to confess. Every tongue that's ever been
on this earth is going to confess. He is Lord. He is. Those who bowed and those who
wouldn't bow are all going to confess. He is Lord of all. That's who the Lord is. Lord
of all. And David said, how amazing is
it to say that this Lord, the Lord, is my, my, not just thee, but my. He owns me, he owns me. You ever heard anybody say, well,
if I believed what you believe, I'd be a puppet on a string.
God's sheep cry, amen. Hold the strings, Lord. You own me. You own me. He owns me. The Father gave me to him. Therefore, he will have me for
his own. He loved me with an everlasting
love. You know, he sought me. Isn't
that amazing? He bought me with his own blood. He didn't just die shedding blood
for sinners. He shed his blood for me. You. He washed me. He cleansed me. He robed me. He covered me. The Lord is my shepherd. My shepherd. A sister asked me
to baptize her one time. And she said, you know why I
want to be baptized? I said, why? She said, because he's mine. Best reason I've ever heard in
my life. He's mine. You know why I got
married? She's mine. Same thing. Every child of God can say this,
my shepherd. We just read in John 10 where
he said he was the good shepherd. Hebrews 13 20 says he's the great
shepherd. First Peter 5 4 says he's the
chief shepherd. Thanks be to God. That good,
great chief shepherd, my shepherd. My shepherd. You know, kids like
to talk about their dads. Oh, yeah, well, my dad, all of
God's sheep are saying, oh, my shepherd? Wait till you see my
shepherd. I have the good great chief shepherd. Our shepherd. David said, you
know what that convinces me of? Because the Lord is my shepherd.
You know what that convinces me of? I shall not want. I'm not going to want. I'm not
going to lack. Because it's the Lord, because it's Christ, I
will never lack one thing that I need. This is so. This is so
right here. I may be the weakest sheep in
the fold, but I will never lack one thing
that I need for strength. That's so. And it's because my
shepherd will provide it for me. My shepherd is that for me. He is my strength. I may be the most ignorant sheep
in the fold, but I will never lack one thing that I need for
wisdom. Because my shepherd is that for
me. He will provide it for me. He will work it in me. He is
made unto me. Wisdom. I may be the sickest sheep in
the fold, but I will never lack one thing that I need for health. I may be the most unstable sheep
in the fold, But I'll never lack one thing that I need to stand
firm before the throne of his glory. I may be the most sinful, wicked,
evil sheep in the fold, but I'll never lack one thing that I need
for perfect holiness. And it's because my shepherd,
he'll provide everything I need. Verse one says, the Lord is my
shepherd, I shall not want. He alone is able, he is able
to keep that which I've committed unto him. What have God's sheep
committed unto him? Everything, everything. People like to say, he has no
hands but your hands. God's sheep cry, I have no hands
but his hands. Everything. He's able to keep
that which I've committed unto him. He is able to raise my vile
body that it may be fashioned like his glorious body. Can you
imagine that? You know, he's able to do that.
He is able to present me faultless before the throne of his glory,
exceeding joy. He is able to save me to the
uttermost because he's caused me to come unto God by him. He's
able to perform every single thing that he's promised. For
that reason, David said, I can say with absolute assurance,
the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. I'm not gonna want.
Because the Lord Jesus Christ is my shepherd, I'm not gonna
lack one thing that I need. Verse 2, he said, I'm not going
to lack rest because he maketh me to lie down in green pastures. I don't need to be afraid of
enemies. I don't need to be afraid of the curse of the law. I don't need to be afraid of death.
I don't need to be afraid of judgment. I have no need to run
off and do anything or undo anything. My shepherd has made me to lie
down in his green pastures of rest. He went on to say, I'm
not gonna lack any peace or any quietness because he leadeth
me beside the still waters, still waters. I love Psalm 46 verse
10 where our Lord said, be still and know that I'm God. Don't you love that? Verse three,
he said, I'm not gonna lack redemption Because he restores my soul.
He's restored it back to life. First Corinthians 15 says every
soul in Adam died. If you came from Adam, you died
in Adam. But it says every soul in Christ
has lived. been made alive again. He restores
the soul of his sheep to life. He restores the soul of his sheep
to purity, back to holiness. He restores the soul of his sheep
back to God. Verse 3, David said, if the Lord
is my shepherd, I'm not going to lack any righteousness. because he leadeth me in the
paths of righteousness for his name's sake. It's not in the
nature of any man to know the path of righteousness or to recognize
the path of righteousness. Man can't even find the path
of righteousness, much less walk in it. The path of man is sin. It's all man does. Even in his
good deeds, he's so proud of them, it's sin. But if we are with the shepherd,
we're following the shepherd, it's the only path we'll be on.
It's the only path he walks on. He is righteousness. He is the
end of the law for righteousness. Everything that he does is righteousness. He can do and be nothing other
than righteousness. Therefore, whatever path he takes,
that's the path of righteousness. Turn over to Romans 3 with me.
I believe this is gonna be a real blessing to you. You can hold
your place in Psalm 23. I really entered into this, maybe
for the first time, this morning, I don't know. Maybe it was 40
years ago, I'm not sure. This is so good, Romans 3. Verse 21, it says, but now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested being witnessed
by the law and the prophets. Even the righteousness of God,
which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all them that
believe, for there's no difference. The righteousness that God has
that he gives to his people being evidenced by the fact that
they believe on Jesus Christ and his word and his work. Verse
23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Everybody.
Verse 24 says, being justified freely by his grace, through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth
to be a propitiation, a bloody victim, a bloody sacrifice, atonement
covering. through faith in His blood. Now watch this, to declare His
righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through
the forbearance of God to declare, I say at this time, His righteousness
that He might be just and the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus. It's His righteousness. Not ours. You know, every time you, I've
ever read Psalm 23, I think, you know, well, I really need
to start walking in the path of righteousness. I really need
to get me some righteousness. Well, it's not my righteousness.
It's his righteousness. I'm pretty sure I knew that 40
years ago. It's his righteous, it's his
path. It's not my path. It's his path. The only reason we're on it is
because he's our shepherd and we're with him. That's the only
reason. Go back to Psalm 23. Verse four, David said, because
the Lord is my shepherd, I'm not gonna lack any companionship,
not gonna lack any safety, not gonna lack any comfort. And here's
the reason why. He's with me. Verse four, yea,
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will
fear no evil. For thou art with me, thy rod
and thy staff, they comfort me. The valley of the shadow of death
is this world that we're passing through. This world where everything
died because of Adam. David said, if the Lord is my
shepherd, he is going to use his rod and his staff to correct
me. That's what a shepherd does with
a rod and a staff, corrects. He'll use his rod and staff to
keep me. You know that staff has a big
crook on it. One side can prod along, the
other side can bring back. Come here. And he'll use his rod and staff
to defend me. That rod and that staff is his
word. If the Lord is my shepherd, his word will be the power of
God to me. It will correct me, it will keep
me, it will defend me. Verse five, he said, if the Lord
is my shepherd, I'm not gonna lack one ounce of nourishment.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.
Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over. You've prepared a table for me
in the presence of my enemies. If the Lord is our shepherd,
we're gonna have everything we need for growth. Everything we
need to increase in the knowledge of him. Everything we need for
growth in grace, growth in faith, growth in love. And it's not gonna be just enough.
It's going to be exceeding abundantly above. It's just going to be
running over. It's running over. That word anointist means makes
fat. That's what it means. Makes fat.
The Lord's provisions are so much. It makes his sheep fat. I have time to do this. Turn
it really quick. Go to Ezekiel 34. I love this
passage so much. Hold your place in Psalm 23 and
go to Ezekiel 34. Ezekiel 34 verse 11. This is good. For thus saith
the Lord God, behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep
and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his
flock, in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered.
So will I seek out my sheep and will deliver them out of all
places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And
I will bring them out from the people and gather them from the
countries and will bring them to their own land and feed them
upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers and in all the
inhabited places of the country. I will feed them in a good pasture,
and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be. There
shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they
feed upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock, and I will
cause them to lie down, That touches me. That's a good
God. That's a great God. That's the
chief God. None other besides him. He said they're gonna lie in
a fat pasture full of fat things. Look at Psalm 23 one more time. Verse six, because of all this,
David said, surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all
the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house
of the Lord forever. How do you know, David? You say,
surely, with assuredness. How do you know? He said, it's
because the Lord is my shepherd. That's how I know. If the Lord
is my shepherd, I'm gonna have everything I need, not only for
this life, but also for the life that's to come. Everything I
need. All glory be to the shepherd
for this. I sincerely in my heart pray
that every soul here can say that with David. I'm a sinful
sheep. I'm a sheep in need of mercy.
I'm a sheep in need of grace. And you said you chose sinners,
and that's what I am. And I need you, and I need your
provision. I need for you to own me, save
me, love me, keep me. I need you. I pray every soul
here can say that with David. Amen.