Psalm 23. I titled this, I SHALL NOT WANT, and here is
why. Here is why I shall not want.
You know, there are some scriptures, and this is a very familiar portion
of scripture. it's written on so many funeral
those things you get at the funeral i forget what they're called
but they use this psalm so many times but this is way more than
a funeral psalm this is a psalm especially it's written by david
written by a very mature believer one who know who knew what he
was talking about But I find this psalm more comforting as
the years go by. You know, I'm learning that old
age, and I'm not old old, not yet, but I'm learning it has
its own set of problems. It has its own set of certain
cares that you don't even realize when you're young. When you're
young, you don't see any of these things. I didn't, and I'm sure
young people don't, but I'm seeing things now that I did not see
many years ago. And this Psalm is one of the
Psalms that just gives me great comfort in every verse of it. Last night. We had gone to bed, and I heard
something drop. I don't know what it was. I heard
a loud noise, and I jumped up out of bed. I said, did you hear
that? She said, no. She's already pretty
much asleep. I heard it, and I jumped up.
And my heart was racing. And this psalm came to my mind. I will fear no evil, for thou
art with me. You see, those Psalms really,
and the Word of God really brings comfort in time of need. You
know, when you need it, it's there. That's why it's so important.
And I cannot stress this, it's so important to read the Word
of God daily. Digest it. Make it part of your
meal every day. It's the Bread of Life. It's the Bread of Life. and there's
much comfort in God's Word. Now, Psalm 23 follows Psalm 22. Now, don't
go, DUH! Everybody knows that! But not just numerically, but
spiritually. There's a reason why this psalm
is written after Psalm 22. There's a reason why. WE DO NOT
UNDERSTAND WHAT IS WRITTEN IN PSALM 22, WHICH IS CALLED THE
PSALM OF THE CROSS. In Psalm 22, our shepherd is being sacrificed for the sheep. He's buying the sheep, he's purchasing
the sheep with his blood. So if we really don't understand
that Psalm, there's no way we can claim the Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want. Unless you understand what went
before, you sure cannot understand Psalm 23. You can't understand
it. It's only after we understand
WHY, WHY did the Lord Jesus cry in Psalm 22 and over in the Gospel. Why did He cry? Why did our Shepherd
cry, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? I understand
that, you understand that, you understand why He was forsaken. And because of that, we can honestly
say the Lord capital L-O-R-D, Jehovah, the self-existing one,
the eternal God, our Savior, is our Shepherd. I shall not
want. I shall not want. Now verse 1
says, The LORD, now who is that? Who is that? That is the Lord
Jesus Christ, that's who that is. He is the Lord and the Lord
is my shepherd. Now there's four ways that the
Lord Jesus Christ, there's four ways He is my Lord. You see He's
my Lord by ownership, He owns the sheep. You've been bought
with a price. I'm His, you are His. scripture says you've been bought
with the price you are not your own you're not your own we're
his by ownership then we're his by a divine decree he said i
have set my king upon my holy hill of zion god has decreed
his son to be our lord our king our sovereign he's ours by decree
He's our Lord. And then He's our Lord by death. He died that we might live. He died and rose again, it says
in the scripture, and revived that He might be both Lord of
the dead and the living. And then He's our Lord by faith.
We bow to Him. By faith we bow to the Lord Jesus
Christ. HE'S OUR LORD. THE LORD JESUS
CHRIST IS OUR SHEPHERD. HE OWNS ME. THE FATHER GAVE ALL
THE SHEEP TO HIM BEFORE THE CREATION OF THE WORLD. ALL THE SHEEP ARE
HIS. EVERY ONE OF THEM ARE HIS. THE
WHOLE LOT, I MEAN, I HAVE NO IDEA HOW MANY THERE ARE. ONLY
GOD DOES. IT'S CALLED AN INNUMERABLE COMPANY. BUT GOD KNOWS THAT ALL OF THEM,
EVERY ONE, given to Him, every one of them. He represented every
one of them, He lived for every one of them, He worked out a
righteousness for every one of them, He died for every one of
them, He purchased every one of them, and He's going to bring
every one of them to glory. He will not lose one sheep, not
one, OUT OF THAT VAST NUMBER, THE SHEPHERD WILL NOT LOSE ONE
SHEEP." Now, if you take the vast part of today's preaching,
He's not going to save everybody He died for. You know, they have
Him dying for everybody, but not everyone's going to be saved.
That's not the Shepherd. The Lord Jesus Christ didn't
do that. He's going to have everyone He died for. He said He will
not lose one sheep, one. NOT ONE SHALL PERISH, HE SAID,
ALL THAT THE FATHER GIVETH ME SHALL COME TO ME, EVERY ONE OF
THEM SHALL COME TO ME, I'M NOT LOSING ONE OF THEM. AND THE REASON
HE'LL NOT LOSE ONE OF THEM IS BECAUSE HE'S ABLE TO KEEP THEM. IT SAYS OVER IN HEBREWS THAT
HE'S ABLE TO SAVE ALL WHO COME TO HIM, HE'S ABLE TO SAVE EVERY
ONE OF THEM, TO THE UTTERMOST THAT COME TO GOD BY HIM, HE'S
ABLE TO SAVE THEM. And I tell you, not only is He
able to save them, He's able to keep them. Does that not give you comfort?
The older you grow in Christ, the more comfort you find that
He's able to keep you. As Jude said, He's able to keep
you from falling because we would. We would fall away. If we were able to, if He let
us, we would. NOW BECAUSE HE'S MY SHEPHERD,
IT SAYS, DAVID WRITES, I SHALL NOT WANT. YOU KNOW HE SAID IN
ONE PLACE, I HAVE BEEN YOUNG, NOW I AM OLD. I HAVE NEVER SEEN
THE RIGHTEOUS FORSAKEN, NOR HIS SEED BEGGING BREAD. I SHALL NOT WANT. THAT DOESN'T
MEAN WE WON'T SEE HARD TIMES. DOESN'T MEAN WE'LL NOT SEE TIMES
WHEN WE ARE BROKE, BUT WE NEVER WANT. HE ALWAYS PROVIDES. HE ALWAYS PROVIDES FOR HIS SHEEP.
I SHALL NOT WANT. Abraham said to his son, Son,
the LORD WILL PROVIDE. HE WILL ALWAYS PROVIDE FOR ME. HE'LL ALWAYS PROVIDE FOR HIS
SHEEP. You know, there's going to come
a time If I don't just die, He's gonna come a time I gotta step
down. The Lord's providing for me now.
You know, I've said this to Vicki, I've said to her, I've said,
you know, the Lord's using me to provide for you. And if He
takes me first, He'll still provide for you. He'll provide for you. He'll always provide for His
sheep. I shall not want no matter what
my situation is when I step down from here I still say I shall
not want I shall not want for Jehovah is my shepherd you know the scripture says that
we shall not want for any good thing doesn't it in the Psalms
it said we shall not want for any good thing Our Lord is able to provide,
He's able to keep. I like what Paul said, and here's
something, if I were going to have a scripture put on my tombstone, if I was going to
have one put on it, this would be it. Pay attention, this would
be it. I am persuaded, I am persuaded
THAT HE'S ABLE TO KEEP THAT WHICH I'VE COMMITTED UNTO HIM AGAINST
THAT DAY. THAT'S WHAT I PUT ON THERE. THIS SINNER LAYING IN
THIS GRAVE IS PERSUADED THAT THE LORD IS ABLE TO KEEP HIM. HE'S ABLE TO KEEP THAT WHICH
I'VE COMMITTED UNTO HIM AGAINST THAT DAY. WHAT HAVE I COMMITTED
UNTO HIM? ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING. THAT CONCERNS ME. EVERYTHING. THAT CONCERNS ME. HE'S ABLE TO
KEEP ALL THAT I'VE COMMITTED TO HIM AND HE'S ABLE TO PRESENT
ME MY SHEPHERD IS ABLE TO PRESENT ME FAULTLESS BEFORE THE THRONE
OF HIS GLORY SOMEDAY AND IT'S NOT VERY LONG NOW NOT VERY LONG
FOR ANY OF US BUT FOR SOME OF US IT'S REALLY NOT VERY LONG
I'M GOING TO MEET GOD EVERY TIME I HEAR SOMEONE DYING MY FIRST THOUGHT EVERY TIME IS
THIS, THEY HAVE MET GOD. IT DOESN'T MATTER IF IT'S A BELIEVER
OR AN UNBELIEVER, MY FIRST THOUGHT IS THEY HAVE NOW MET GOD. WHATEVER QUESTIONS ANYONE MAY
HAVE HAD BEFORE IS ANSWERED NOW. EVEN THE ATHEISTS You know, I
wrote an article not long ago here, an atheist. If I meet an
atheist, I say, you better enjoy it because you're not going to
be one when you die. The only time you're going to
be an atheist is on this earth, because the second you die, you're
going to know that God is. Too late, but you're going to
know that He is. the Lord Jesus Christ, our Shepherd,
is able to present us before the throne faultless. And not
only is He able to present us faultless, He's able to raise
our vile bodies. That's what Paul writes in 1
Corinthians 15. No, it's not Paul, it's in I
think Philippians. He's able to raise our vile bodies. They're going to be presented
faultless also. You know, we age and if we live
long enough, we don't age too well because it's all downhill. I told Hickey, we talk a lot. Some couples don't talk a lot. We talk a lot. I said, life is
like a short plane ride. I said, have you ever been on
a short plane ride, and you're ascending, we're ascending, ascending,
and then you're up there about 10 minutes, and they said, we're
now descending. I said, boy, that was short.
I've been on plane rides where you don't level out for about
10 minutes, then you're already descending. That's life. It's just like a short plane
ride. You just ascend, then all of a sudden you level out for
about 10 minutes and then you're descending. But He's able to raise our vile
bodies and present them faultless also. And then I shall not want
for rest, there in verse 2. FOR HE MAKETH ME TO LIE DOWN
IN GREEN PASTURES, HE MAKETH ME, IF HE DIDN'T, I WOULDN'T."
Isn't that sad? We find everything under the
sun to keep us busy or do something besides getting into the Word
of God, but He makes us to lie down in green pastures. He makes
the sheep to lie down. It's time to rest. When I was
a kid, my parents made me go to bed. Nobody makes me go to
bed now. I look forward to it. I look
forward to rest. I do. I enjoy rest more than
I do anything now. But when I was young, I'm telling
you, especially when I was a teenager, I was just burning energy. But
the Lord makes us to rest. He maketh me to lie down. Lie
down. Be quiet. In green pastures. He makes us to lie down in safety. quietness and in peace. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. You see, the sheep need water
too. They not only need pasture and rest, they need water. And
He leads me beside the still waters. You know, we live out
our lives on this earth and happy HAPPY IS THAT PERSON, THAT SINNER,
WHO CAN SAY, THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD, HE MAKETH ME TO LIE DOWN IN GREEN
PASTURES, HE LEADETH ME BESIDE STILL WATERS. And then in verse 3, HE RESTORETH
MY SOUL I WILL NOT WANT FOR REDEMPTION. THIS IS HOW HE RESTORES MY SOUL. FIRST HE PURCHASED IT. HE PURCHASED
IT AND RESTORES IT NOW BACK TO LIFE. I WAS DEAD BUT NOW I'M
ALIVE. I WAS DEAD IN TRESPASSES AND
SINS NOW I'M ALIVE TO GOD. I CAN CALL UPON GOD AND BE HEARD. GOD CAN SPEAK TO ME NOW BECAUSE
I'M ALIVE, SPIRITUALLY ALIVE. THAT WHICH IS BORN OF THE SPIRIT
IS SPIRIT. GOD CAN SPEAK TO ME NOW. HE RESTORES MY SOUL TO LIFE AND
ADAM ALL DIE IN CHRIST ALL ARE WHAT? MADE ALIVE. I tell you this, if you don't
have life in Christ, you're not alive. You have this fleshly
life, but you don't have life, eternal life, the life of God.
You don't have it. Not only does He restore it to
life, He restores it to purity. To purity. In Christ, I'm holy. You know that? In Christ, you're
holy if you believe. you're holy in Christ now we
really won't appreciate that until we stand in his presence
and we see God who is holy and we realize that without holiness
no man shall see the Lord that's what he said and in Christ I
have that holiness I have that holiness, I have righteousness.
In Christ I'm reconciled to God, He's reconciled us to God. God's
reconciled to me and I'm reconciled to Him. And then He leadeth me in paths
of righteousness for His namesake. You know by nature I don't know
where that path is, nor do I care where that path is. BY NATURE I DID NOT WANT TO WALK
IN A PATH OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, I WANTED TO WALK MY OWN PATH. WE HEAR
PEOPLE SAYING BOY HE MADE HIS OWN PATH, YEAH HE SURE DID, IT'S
CALLED SIN, IT'S SIN, IT'S A LIFE OF SIN, IT'S HIS OWN PATH, IT'S
JUST A LIFE OF SIN, GOD'S NOT ON THAT PATH, IT'S NOT HIS PATH,
BUT HE LEADETH ME. in paths of righteousness for
his name's sake. You know, if you look back over
your life, and I do mine from time to time, I think I would
have never ever chosen to do the things or go the way that
I've gone. I would have done it. Judy told
me I would have owned a business and then I would have preached
the gospel and if I'd have moved to 13th Street and then when
I was 60 years old I'd moved to North Carolina to be a pastor. I wouldn't have chose any of
that. You wouldn't have chose the path. He leads us in paths
of righteousness and in that path of many times, many times
there are disappointments. Many times there are disappointments. There was a time that I was on
a path that I would have been very wealthy. And God kicked
that ladder out from under me. He did. He kicked it out from
under us. But there was a time I would
have, I was on a path, I was going, I would have been, we'd
have been wealthy. But you know what? I know now
I know what true wealth is. I do. I know what I thought it
was. I know what it is. I'm very wealthy
now. I am wealthy now. But I'm wealthy
now in a way that it won't fade away. I can't lose it in the
stock market going down. You know, I don't care where
the stock market, where it's at. I don't look at it. I don't
care where it goes. Now there may be some of you
a little bit worried about that, but not me. I don't have anything
in it. I don't. All my stock is in Jesus
Christ. I'm not trying to sound religious
or super righteous here, but I'm telling you the truth. All
my stock is in Jesus Christ. Lay up your treasures in heaven.
If I don't have any there, I don't have them anywhere. That's all
I got. That's all I got. He leadeth me in paths of righteousness
for His name's sake. WHATEVER PATH HE'S LEADING US
DOWN AND WHATEVER PATH HE'S LEADING HIS SHEEP DOWN, HIS PATHS OF
RIGHTEOUSNESS, IT'LL KEEP YOU COMING TO HIM AND LOOKING TO
HIM WHO IS OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. And then he says here in verse
4, let me read it. YAY, THOUGH I WALK THROUGH THE
VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH, THAT'S WHAT THIS WORLD IS. That's what this world is. I
didn't see it. At one time, I didn't see that.
I saw this world as a playground. Now I see it as a graveyard.
Now, I don't mean to sound depressing. I'm not trying to depress you
young people. Miranda and Sidney say, no, man,
this is depressing. And I did. I saw it as a playground at one
time. But now I'm near 70, I see it as a graveyard. I see what the scripture says,
the whole world lies in wickedness. I see that. You see now I've
experienced what I've read. I've experienced the word of
God. And I can stand here and talk to you from experience,
not just something I read. You know, I heard a preacher
one time, he became a pastor. His first sermon when he became
a pastor, his first sermon was, what is it to be a pastor? I thought, buddy, that's the
last sermon you should preach. You might preach that 10, 15
years down the road, but not your first one. Get your first
day on the job. And there's a lot of things I
preached when I was young and I preached and they were true
and I believed them. But now when I preach from even
like when I preach from this psalm, I've lived it. There's a difference. yeah though i walk through the
valley of the shadow of death and it's a shadow because the
lord jesus christ has taken the sting out of death and victory
away from the grave all it is is a shadow and a shadow can't
hurt you it cannot hurt you i will fear no evil I thought, Lord, when I read
that, I thought, even at my age, I said, Lord, help me to fear
no evil. Because we do, you know, we,
we, we just have a nature in us that's afraid. Some people are afraid of the
dark. Well, the dark itself has never done anything to you. It's
what's in the dark. Here's, here's why, here's why
I will fear no evil. And it's not because I'm the
meanest person on the block or the toughest person on the block,
but because they aren't with me. God, Christ is with his sheep
all the time. The shepherd never leaves the
sheep. He never leaves the sheep. They aren't with me and thy rod
and thy staff, they comfort me. They comfort me. You know, God's
rod And staff here, we think of correction when we think of
the rod. You know, we're going through
Exodus and we'll see again here that the rod is used. It's always
that rod, that rod, that rod. That rod is Christ. But the Lord's correction and
His chastening, we find some comfort in it as we grow older.
Not at first. Babes in Christ, they don't find
that real comfort at first, but as you get older, you find comfort
because you know this, whom the Lord loves, He chastens. He chastens. If the Lord loves
you, He's going to chasten you. He's going to discipline you.
He's going to straighten you up. That's what my dad said.
I'm going to straighten you up, son. And he did. and our Heavenly Father chastens
us. But the rod and staff here also
are symbols of sovereignty. As we will see in Exodus, that
rod was used, and we will see again this morning, that rod,
God is sovereign, God does as He will. And He does as He will,
with whom He will, when He will, by and through the Lord Jesus
Christ, His Son, the Mediator, the Rod. And in verse 4, 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 staff, they comfort
me, and thou preparest a table before me in the presence of
mine enemies. That's exactly what's happening right now. A table, the gospel, His Word
is being preached to you, you're reading His Word, I'm finding
great comfort preaching it this morning as well as I did studying
it this week. A table was prepared for us and
Christ is the bread and water on the table and He does so right
in the face of Satan and this world. IF THIS WORLD COULD, YOU
WOULDN'T BE ALLOWED TO BE HERE. IF SATAN WOULD HAVE HIS WAY,
YOU WOULDN'T BE ALLOWED TO BREATHE. IF HE COULD HAVE HIS WAY, YOU'D
BE DEAD JUST LIKE HE WANTED JOB. THERE'S NO MERCY WITH SATAN.
SATAN DOESN'T KNOW ONE INKLING OF MERCY. ALL HE KNOWS IS IF
HE COULD KILL YOU, HE WOULD. And what God does is prepare
a table of feast right in his face, right on his turf, so to
speak. One of the great churches of
the Old Testament was the book. It was the Roman church in the
book of Romans, the church of Rome. And that was a seat of
Satan. At that, especially at that time,
that was the seat of Satan. And yet there's a church right
there in the midst of it. Thou prepares a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil.
My cup runneth over. Our cup ought to be running over
this morning, anointed of God's Spirit. You know how I know that
the Lord Jesus Christ is here? You know the Spirit of Prophecy
is the preaching of Christ? That's what the Bible teaches,
tells us. When Christ is preached, you can be sure the Holy Spirit
is present. You can be sure the Spirit of
Christ is present. That's how you know. And then last of all, surely, without a doubt, don't
you ever doubt this, Don't you ever doubt this, even when you're
in your lowest hour and you're being tried to the nth degree
and your heart is crushed, don't you ever doubt this, that God's
goodness and mercy is following you, it's surrounded you, you
are hedged about by the goodness and mercy of God. good surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me all the days of my life when i am old he said
the lord will take me up it dawned on me i hear a few
weeks ago i heard of a company coming into north carolina and
then we're gonna have a thousand jobs there's gonna be a lot of
jobs they're gonna be high paying jobs and i and and when i heard
that That advertisement, for the first time I thought, that
means nothing to me. I'm past that now. I'm past that
now. They don't want me. They don't
need me. I don't need them now. But there
was a time when I was young and I'd hear that. That was, I'm
going to go get a better job. That don't mean anything to me
now. It means nothing to me. BUT THERE'S
ONE THING THAT DOES MEAN SOMETHING TO ME, THAT GOD'S GOODNESS AND
MERCY IS FOLLOWING ME IF I LIVE TO BE A HUNDRED, LIKE DORIS MAYHAM. SHE'S BEEN TAKEN CARE OF LIKE
A QUEEN. I TOLD MY MOTHER BEFORE SHE PASSED
AWAY, I SAID, MY SISTERS, THEY TOOK CARE OF HER LIKE SHE WAS
A QUEEN, I'M TELLING YOU. SHE COULDN'T HAVE HAD IT ANY
BETTER. I MEAN, SHE COULDN'T HAVE HAD IT
BETTER. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Do
we not have a good future? Do we not? I mean, I hope the
Lord turns this country around, keeps it free so we can meet
together like this. I hope He keeps His hand on it. But I tell you what, no matter
what happens, we have a good end. I will dwell in the house
of the Lord forever. I shall not want And here's why. The Lord's my shepherd.