Hi, everybody. Certainly remembering you, the
Lord would provide a pastor after his own heart for you. Certainly
remembering you. Would you turn to the 23rd Psalm? Now, what is the most well-known
Psalm? Probably the 23rd Psalm. And
I would say that if you would Find out what the most well-known
scripture is in all of the Bible. I think Psalm 23 would be one
of the ones that people would select. But what I'd like you
to do when I read this Psalm is listen to it as if you've
never heard it before. I think that quite often something
that is too familiar, we think, well, I got that down pat. No,
let's read this Psalm as if you've never read it before Psalm 23. I've entitled this message is
the Lord my shepherd. David says, the Lord, excuse me. David says, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want he maketh me
to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters, waters of quietness, is what my marginal reading says.
He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness for his name's sake. 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. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of my enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil,
my cup runneth over. Surely, goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever. Now, not every son of Adam can
say, the Lord is my shepherd. Now, it's my prayer that I will
be enabled to say this and that you will be enabled to leave
this place with the joy of knowing the Lord is my shepherd. The Lord, Jehovah, the self existent
one. That's what Jehovah means. That
means he has no needs. Now there's a lot of places we
could go with that, isn't there? He has no needs. You and I are so needy. He has no needs. God over all, blessed forever,
absolutely independent. All of his attributes come out
of that. The Lord, Jehovah, is my Shepherd. This is one of the eight Jehovah's
in the scripture. You've heard of him. Jehovah.
I think this is Raha. The Lord is my shepherd. Jehovah
Shalom. The Lord our peace. Jehovah Rafa. I'm the Lord that healeth thee.
Jehovah Jireh. The Lord will provide Jehovah
Shama. The Lord is present. Jehovah
Makedeshim, I am the Lord that sanctifies thee. Jehovah Tkenu,
the Lord our righteousness. Jehovah Nisi, the Lord our banner. Do you know that every one of
those are in this psalm? This psalm declares the entire character
of who Jehovah is to his people. I read, the Lord is my shepherd,
Jehovah Shalom. I mean, Jehovah Raha. He is Jehovah
Shalom, the Lord my peace. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. He makes me lie down. He leads
me beside the still waters, waters of quietness, waters of peace. Jehovah Rafa, I am the Lord that
healeth thee. He restoreth my soul. Jehovah Shama, the Lord is present. David said, thou art with me. Jehovah Mekadeshem, I am the
Lord that sanctifies thee. David says, I'll dwell in the
house of the Lord, who is our wisdom and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption forever. Jehovah Tsikinu, the
Lord, our righteousness, he leadeth me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake. Jehovah Nisi, the Lord, our banner,
his rod and his staff, they comfort me. His rod, his scepter, his
absolute sovereignty, his staff, he is the one we lean on. We
lean on him. They comfort me. That's our message,
really, the person and work of Christ. His rod as his scepter,
King Jesus, his staff, the salvation we rest in. He himself is our message. he is declared in this psalm.
Now, the Lord is my shepherd. He's talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ. You know, when David wrote this, people have guessed
it might have been before all of his problems. He was a shepherd,
maybe 17, 18 years old, and he wrote this glorious psalm. While he was under the stars
looking at the sheep, he said, the Lord is my shepherd. Now in Hebrews chapter 13 verse
20, he's called the great shepherd of the sheep, who through the
blood of the everlasting covenant make you perfect to do his will,
working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight. What
a shepherd. He's called in first Peter chapter
five, verse four, the chief shepherd. When the chief shepherd shall
appear, he will give you a crown of glory. that fadeth not away."
Now, what is this? Well, the Lord said, the glory
thou gavest me, I have given them. And he gives all of his
people as the chief shepherd this crown of glory. Now, turn to John chapter 10.
You're familiar with this. John chapter 10. Verse 14, I am the good shepherd. Yes, he's the chief shepherd. He's the good shepherd. I am the good shepherd and know
my sheep and am known of mine. As the father knoweth me, even
so know I the father. I lay down my life for the sheep. Now this is the shepherd that
David's referring to when he says the Lord, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, the shepherd of the sheep. Now, as I've said
at the first, not everyone, not every son of Adam can truthfully
say the Lord is my shepherd. I'm sure there's a lot of people
that have memorized this Psalm and could quote it very carefully
and accurately, but the Lord is not their shepherd. Not everybody
has the Lord as their shepherd. Who does? The sheep. Look in John 10, 24, you're already
there. Then came the Jews round about
him and said unto him, how long dost thou make us to doubt? If
thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you
and you believe not. The works that I do in my father's
name, they bear witness of me. You know, the Lord did what only
God can do. He raised the dead. He created matter. He suspended
the law of physics. He gave sight to the blind. He
controlled the weather. Only God can do this. You believe
not. I've shown you works that there's
no excuse for your unbelief. But look what he says in verse
26. He says, but you believe not because you're not of my
sheep, as I said unto you. He didn't say you're not my sheep
because you don't believe. He said, You believe not, because
you're not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice. Now, I've never heard the voice
of the Lord Jesus Christ audibly, but I've heard it more powerfully
than that in his word. You know you're hearing his voice
when you know it's not just the word of the preacher. This is
the very word of God, the absolute truth of God, and you know it.
You know one of the things I love about the truth is when I hear
the truth, I know it's the truth as soon as I hear it. That's
the truth. There's something in you that responds to that.
You know the truth. They know me. Verse 27, my sheep hear my
voice, and I know them. Now he didn't know everybody
like this. He said to one group, depart from me ye that work iniquity. I never knew you. Now when he
says that, he means I never loved you. I never knew you to be one
of mine. I never knew you to worship me.
I never knew you. He knew exactly who they were.
He knew all about them, but he couldn't save these people whom
he did foreknow. Them he also did predestinate,
but his sheep, He says, I know them and they follow me. This is what sheep do. They follow
the shepherd. Now, what does it mean to follow?
I might have said this here recently. I don't remember, but it's been
a blessing to me to think about this. Most people, when they
think of following Christ, what do they think of? Imitating him. And I wouldn't say anything against
that, but that's not what this means. I want to imitate Christ.
You do too. How's that going for you? Probably not real well.
Do sheep imitate? No. They don't imitate the shepherd.
They follow the shepherd. Now, that's what it means to
follow Christ. You look to him only. You don't look down at
your feet to look at your walk to see how you're doing, because
if you do that, you'll lose him, won't you? You'll quit looking to him
if you're looking down at your feet. You're not to look at the
side at somebody else to compare yourself with him and try to
find out how you're doing by comparing yourself with him.
You do that, you lose it. You don't look behind you to
your experience. You don't look to your understanding. You don't look to see if you
have works that are sufficient to prove to you you're a Christian.
You'll lose him then. You look only to him. I know them. and they follow
me, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. Looking unto Jesus, looking nowhere
else. Looking. Now, if the Lord is my shepherd,
that means I'm a sheep. And let me tell you some things
that are true about sheep. You know, the Lord used a sheep
as an animal that he would describe his people. He didn't use a lion
or a bear or an eagle or a horse or some kind of powerful animal. He used the sheep. Sheep are
dumb. Very dumb. Sheep are dirty. They get themselves so dirty
that they can fall over and they're like a turtle with its legs.
They can't get back up unless the shepherd comes and brings
them back up. Sheep are easily led astray. You know, David said, I've gone
astray like a lost sheep. Seek thy servant. They easily
go. And when they do go astray, they
can't find their way back unless the shepherd comes and gets them. Sheep are defenseless. They don't
have fangs. They don't have claws to protect
themselves. They're defenseless. They're
completely dependent upon the shepherd to do everything for
them. Now, that's a sheep. Are you
a sheep? They look to Christ only. Now,
David said, the Lord is my shepherd. Am I a sheep? You know how you
can tell? One way. Sheep believe. You believe not because you're
not my sheep. Sheep believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God. They believe He is God's Christ.
Now in this thing of trying to determine whether or not you're
a sheep, I'm not asking you, can you tell whether or not you're
a sheep? I'm not asking you, are you one of God's elect or
did Christ die for you? Are you sure you've been born
again? I'm asking you this. Do you believe
that Jesus Christ is God the son, the only savior of sinners? Are you relying only on him? That's what sheep do. Sheep Believe. If you believe the gospel, that's
evidence that you are a sheep. And you can say with just as
much confidence as David did, the Lord is my shepherd. Isn't there joy in that? The
Lord is my shepherd. When you're driving home tonight,
you can think the Lord is my shepherd. When you lay your head
on your pillow tonight, you can think the Lord is my shepherd. When you wake up in the morning,
you can remember the Lord is my shepherd. You know what that means? What David
tells us, I shall not want. I shall not lack. anything because
my shepherd is the lord now here's the new testament commentary
on this in him colossians 2 9 and 10 in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the godhead bodily and you are complete wanting lacking
nothing in him David says the Lord is my shepherd. I shall
not want Do you know you can't get any more loved by God than
you are You can't get any more accepted than you are You can't
get any more righteous than you are You can't get any more holy
than you are if the Lord your shepherd You can say this I shall
not want. Now he demonstrates to us what
all it is we shall not want. Back to Psalm 23. He maketh me. Don't you like that language?
He doesn't say, you want to lie down? No. He maketh me. It's called sovereign grace,
irresistible, invincible grace. He maketh me. Lord, make me. Make me. He maketh me to lie
down in green pastures because the Lord is my shepherd. shall
not want rest. The Lord said come unto me all
ye that are weary heavy laden and I will give you rest. Now what is this spiritual rest
he speaks of? Well we don't have to struggle
to find out what that means because the writer of the Hebrew says
they which have believed do enter into rest for he that's entered
into his rest hath ceased from his own works as God did from
his. You know when you rest when you
cease from your own works and look only to his work. I love that passage of scripture
in John chapter six, verse 29, when they said, what must we
do that we might work the works of God? This is the work of God
that you believe on him whom he hath sent. You know what goes after that?
Nothing. A period. rest. Because my shepherd is the Lord,
I shall not lack peace. He leadeth me beside the still
waters, waters of quietness. Peace. I shall not lack peace. Now let me tell you this about
peace. You know, Do you have peace?
Yeah, I'm good. Well, I doubt it. Do you have peace? There's only
one thing that brings true peace. If the sin question has completely
been answered and you have no sin. That's the only thing that
gives peace. If you have no sin. And that
is what the Lord Jesus accomplished on Calvary's tree. He was manifested
to take away our sin. In Him is no sin. If you're in Him right now, you
have no sin. Now, if you have any sin that
God's going to judge you for, you have no peace. But oh, if
the sin, if, if, If Christ actually put away my sins, so there is
none. And that's what justification is, sinlessness. I stand before
God without guilt, without sin. If what Christ did actually put
away sin, and I have no sin before God, I have peace. He was delivered for our offenses,
raised again for our justification, therefore being justified. By faith we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ. Having made peace by the blood
of his cross. He made it. Now, I've got a question
for you. I want you to think about this.
Is God satisfied with what his son did or is he looking for
something else? You know the answer to that question.
He's completely satisfied with what his son accomplished, and
he's not looking for anything else. Therefore, I have peace. We just sang it. Jesus paid it
all. We don't sing Jesus paid a half.
The other half I know. Jesus paid it all. All the debt
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white. as snow. He, verse three, restoreth my
soul. I will not lack restoration.
Now, what does restore mean? This word is generally translated
turned or turned back. Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel
it, prone to leave the God I love. You turn this way, he turns you
back. Turn us again, O Lord God of
hosts, cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. Jeremiah
said, turn me, and I'll be turned. Well, here's what every believer
has, the shepherd turning them back. If he didn't turn you back,
you'd be gone for good, wouldn't you? We're depending on our shepherd
to turn us back. He restoreth my soul. Because my shepherd is Jehovah,
I will not lack righteousness. He leadeth me in paths of righteousness
for his namesake. Now, don't forget this, his namesake. Be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven
you. He doesn't have to have a reason
in you to do this. He does it for his son's sake. And the righteousness being spoken
of is not human righteousness. As a matter of fact, I can say
that with such conviction, because there's really no such thing
as human righteousness, is there? Didn't Isaiah say our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags? He's not talking about human
righteousness. Now, this is the sweetness of
this psalm. He's talking about his own righteousness, the righteousness
of God. Now, let me give you some scriptures.
Paul said in Philippians chapter three, verse nine, oh, that I
may win Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness. Now, does that mean anything
to you? You don't want to stand before God on anything that has
anything to do with you. If your fingerprints are on it,
you want to have nothing to do with it. Oh, that I may win Christ and
be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of
the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the faithfulness,
the life of Christ, the righteousness, which is of God. By faith. For he hath made him to be sin,
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. Now, how can that be? Well, when
Jesus Christ was hanging on the cross. God turned the lights
out. And he cried out, my God, my
God. Why has thou forsaken me? The father didn't look at him
and say, now, I know these things don't belong to you, they belong
to somebody else, but you're you're taking the punishment
for him. And I bet, you know, that's not even just. My sin became. His. Sin. That's hard to say, it's hard
to even think. But he bore all the filth of
my iniquity and my sin as he was on the cross. Now, he never
sinned. It's worse. He was made sin. And everything
there is about sin, being ashamed, the guilt of it, he experienced
much more acutely than you and I could. My God, my God, why
has thou forsaken me? Because he was made sin. But
just as truly as he was actually literally made sin. Every believer is made the very
righteousness of God in him. I want you to think about that.
You have the Lord, your shepherd, if you're a sheep and the Lord,
your shepherd, you believe the gospel, you stand in the very
righteousness of God in him, you'll never lack Righteousness
now, let's go on verse 4 Yay Though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death because the Lord's my shepherd Yay, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death Now I begin
that walk 9 9 59 my birthday soon as I entered
this conscious existence on planet
Earth, I began this walk through the valley of the shadow of death. There's so many things you could
say about that. A lot of shadows. A lot of things
I don't see real clearly. I don't understand why God does
what he does. There's so much sorrow. There's
so much pain. walking through the valley of
this shadow of death. Death is always around us. Death
is in us by nature. We're going to die, and we're
walking through this valley of the shadow of death. But with
regard to that one who has the Lord as his shepherd, I'll fear
no evil. You see, I don't understand I won't say everything that's
going on, but anything that's going on. But he does. And I trust his character. Whatever
he does is right. And I can rest and trust his
character. Though I'm walking through this
valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil. And here's
why. Thou art with me. When I'm aware of it, when I'm
not aware of it, thou art with me. I always have his presence. You remember that song Judy sang
so often here when blessed with a sense of his love a palace
a toy would appear but prisons would palaces prove if Jesus
would dwell with me there we have his presence so there's
nothing to fear as we walk through this valley of the shadow of
death. Verse 4, still, for thy rod and
thy staff comfort me. Now, because the Lord is my shepherd,
his rod and his staff comfort me. Now, what is it that comforts
you? Well, his rod is his absolute
sovereign scepter, King of kings, Lord of lords. Jesus, the Christ,
the Lord of all, the God of glory, the one who controls everything.
That comforts me. What about this staff? Well,
you remember when God said to the children of Israel, you're
wrong and in leaning on that broken staff, Egypt. This is
a staff we can lean on and rest in faith, faith. If God is who he says he is.
And I can believe his word that comforts me. Comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, saith the Lord. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem
and say unto her, her warfare is accomplished. Her iniquity
is pardoned. She hath received of the Lord's
hand double for all her sins. Thy rod who he is, thy staff,
his work, that I can lean on and rest in, the person and work
of Christ, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Verse five, I'm not going to lack provision
from Jehovah Jireh, my shepherd, thou preparest the table before
me in the presence of mine enemies. Now, what do you think of when
you think of him preparing a table for you in the presence of your
enemies? I know what could come to mind. Well, my enemies are
gonna see that the Lord favors me and blesses me and feeds me
right in front of them. Is that what he means? I don't
think so. Who are my enemies? My sins. Those are my enemies. my sins,
and he prepares the table of his grace for me in the very
teeth and in the midst of my sin. Brethren, these things I
write unto you that you sin not. But if any man sin, we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He was
the advocate before the sin. He was the advocate during the
sin. He's the advocate after the sin. Jesus Christ, the righteous. We have this advocate. He's never
lost a case. The judge is his father. And
this advocate makes you plead guilty and causes you to be innocent. What an advocate we have with
the father, preparing this table, the table of grace in the very
presence of our enemies. And next, David says, Thou anointest
my head with oil. Now, this anointing refers to
the anointing of God, the Holy Spirit. Every believer has been
anointed by the Spirit in the new birth, the oil of his grace. You anoint my head with oil constantly. Therefore, my cup runneth over.
You know what that means? For one thing, it's always full.
It's always full. Whether I'm aware of it or not,
it's always full. Running over. Thou anointest
my head with oil, because my shepherd is Jehovah. Thou anointest
my head with oil, my cup runneth over. Verse six. Surely. Don't miss that. This is for sure. There's no
doubt about this. Surely. Like David said, although
my house be not so with God, yet have he made with me an everlasting
covenant ordered in all things and sure. That's why this is
sure. Surely. Now he speaks of the
sheepdogs that follow or pursue the sheep. One's name is goodness,
the other's name is mercy. Surely, goodness and mercy, and
that word follow is pursue, pursue. Have you ever seen a sheepdog? what it does with the sheep.
You know, it's not just going to, you all get it. No, it's,
they're relentless until they get what the, until the shepherd
says, get off of them. You know, they're going to make
sure you stay in the fold. And what is it that he uses? Goodness. God is so good. He's good all the time. Good,
the goodness of God that leads thee to repentance. God is good.
He's always good. He always brings good out of
evil. Only he can do that. The goodness and the mercy of
God. Oh, what mercy. Streams of mercy
never ceasing call for songs of loudest praise. Surely, goodness
and mercy shall pursue me, shall follow me, all the days of my
life. This is continual, it's nonstop,
all the days of my life. And finally, David says, because
Jehovah is my shepherd, I will not ever lack a dwelling place. I will dwell in the house of
the Lord. Turn over to Psalm 27 for just
a moment. Verse four, David said, one thing
have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may
dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold
the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. Now, when he's talking about
dwelling in the house of the Lord, I remember when I was a boy,
I'd read things like that or hear them read. I don't want
to stay in this house all the time or in this church building
all the time. That seems kind of boring. You know, I didn't
really understand what it meant. Dwell in the same place? The Lord Jesus Christ is the
house of the Lord. And I simply want to be found
in Him. And I never want to be found
outside of Him. I simply want to be in Him. Now, if I told you all of God's
favor is in this room and outside of this room, there's nothing
but hell, where do you want to stay? Right here. In Him. This is our holiness being in
him, that I'm the Lord that sanctified thee. Of him are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made into us wisdom and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption. That's why I want to be in him,
in him. The Lord, Jehovah, is my shepherd. I shall not want. If you believe the gospel, the Lord is your shepherd. You shall not want. Let's pray.