Let us read together from the
Holy Word of God. The reading is on the back page
of your sheets. The two readings. Firstly, Psalm
23. Psalm 23, the whole of the Psalm. 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. 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 mine 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 for ever. And now secondly, in John
chapter 10, the first 11 verses. John 10 1 Verily, verily, I say
unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold,
but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the
door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth, and
the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name,
and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his
own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for
they know his voice. And a stranger will they not
follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of
strangers. This parable spake Jesus unto
them, but they understood not what things they were which he
spake unto them. Then said Jesus unto them again,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me
are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.
I am the door, by me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved,
and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh
not but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I am come,
that they might have life, and that they might have it more
abundantly. I am the Good Shepherd, the Good
Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. Thus far the reading
of God's Holy Word. This morning I wish to speak
to you on the two words that appear in Psalm 23, verse 2 and
verse 3. We both have, He leadeth me. The type that we have here in
Psalm 23 and also by the words of our Lord, the type of Christ
as a shepherd is the most beautiful type. David was able to see it
as experiencing it, and be able to say, the Lord is my shepherd,
and to testify of that which He did for him. All the time
the crown is put upon Christ's head or the shepherd's head.
The sheep looking to the shepherd and saying, He maketh me to lie
down in green pastures. He leadeth me. He restoreth my
soul. It is all what the Lord is doing
for them. And if we think of the type of
a shepherd, It is what the shepherd is doing for the sheep. Where
they graze, where they go, what field they are in, the shepherd
decides that. The care of them when they are
sick, when they are falling into the ditch, the recovery of them,
everything is done by the shepherd. And this then is a beautiful
type, and the Lord in John 10, He takes it up and He teaches
this. He lays this before us so that
we have no doubt of how He deals with His people as sheep. He says, My sheep, they hear
My voice and they follow Me. He says in verse 4 of chapter
10, When He putteth forth His own sheep, He goeth before them. And each soul that is quickened
into life, each soul that is brought to the new birth, They
know that as Christ has brought them into this world, as he's
brought them into the second birth, as well as a first birth,
a spiritual birth, that he will go before them. And may that
be an encouragement a help to you this morning. It may be that
you can look over your lives and see where the Lord has led
you many, many times through your lives, and He still will,
still will right down to the end. He will not forsake his
sheep, his people, still this truth will be realized in their
lives, he leadeth me." And I hope that we'll be able to see that
more and more, and so I want to this morning. With the Lord's
help, just look at a couple of points. Firstly, where He leads
and how He leads, and my desire is there might be just some thoughts
that give you some meditation throughout the day and be able
to see more clearly the leading of the Lord and to look, look
for that. May we never think that the Lord
is so distant from his people, he doesn't look after them, he
doesn't care for them, he just leaves them to go their own way. May we not think that. May we
think of the Lord not as a bad shepherd, but the good shepherd. And so, where he leads? Well,
in our text, firstly, it's speaking of, He leadeth me beside the
still waters. Now, we're told in the prophecy
of Zechariah, chapter 14, and verse 8, that there shall be
from Jerusalem the waters that proceed, and there will be half
toward the former sea and half toward the hinder sea. And what
is meant is that it shall be to the Jews and to the Gentiles,
to the former ones, to the Jews, and it is the Gospel, it's the
living waters of the Gospel. The Gospel was first to be preached
to the Jews and then it was to go to the Gentiles. and the lord later on in john
chapter 10 he's speaking again of his sheep he says other sheep
i have which are not of this fold them also must i bring and
those other sheep are the gentiles the fold that he's speaking of
here in John 10, is the Jews, is his own people, but then there's
the fold of the Gentiles, and they shall be one fold, and there
shall be one shepherd. And Paul brings it very beautifully
when he speaks to the Ephesians, and he speaks to them as being
one. in Christ. Those that were once
far off the Gentiles with were brought nigh by the precious
blood of Christ. So in this way he leadeth me
beside the still waters to be brought to be led beside the
still waters of the gospel what a contrast to the law when we
think of israel coming to mount sinai and the mountain quaked
and the fire and the the uh trembling the great fear that they had
there and paul takes this up in in hebrews 12 year not come
unto the mount that might be touched that burneth with fire
but we come unto mount Zion and the contrast is of the blessings
of the gospel the sweets of the gospel now some of you you know
this and you have known it you've been led into those sweet blessed
truths of the everlasting gospel, the covenant ordered in all things
insure in the Lord Jesus Christ, His precious blood atoning for
your sin, by His will and purpose to quicken you into life and
to bring you to feed upon thee precious truths of the word.
Man shall not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth
out of the mouth of the Lord. And so we have realized and known
something of the blessings that Jeremiah said, Thy words were
found, and I did eat them, and they were to the joy and rejoicing
of my soul. So can we join with David in
this? and say he leadeth me, or do
we have to say he has led me, but does not still lead me? I
hope, dear friends, we know still the sweets and blessings of the
gospel, and still able to say he leadeth me into fresh paths
Parts of the Word opened up, Christ seen, the blessings of
the Gospel, He's still doing that, He's still making Himself
precious, He's still showing Himself to me through the lattice
of the Word and through the preaching of the Word. I hope we can, this
morning, come in with David and say, he leadeth me. Well, another path that he leads
is in verse 3, he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness.
for his namesake. The apostle, in writing to the
Romans, in his so desired his own people might be saved, but
he said they were ignorant of God's righteousness, though going
about to establish their own Another, it's a beautiful tie
on two sides really. One thing, when the Lord quickens
his people, he leads them in paths of righteousness. Instead
of wickedness, instead of their wicked lives, he leads them in
holy lives and upright lives. But that's not their hope for
heaven. That's not the righteousness that they shall ascend and stand
before God in. But blessed be God, the Lord
does where he calls by grace, makes a real vital change in
a sinner's heart and life. But the blessing thing is to
be led into those paths of righteousness to see the Lord Jesus Christ. We have in the prophecy of Jeremiah,
this is the name wherewith he shall be called, that is the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord our righteousness. And the name that
she shall be called, that is the Church of God, the Lord our
righteousness. Now that's a beautiful thing
to be led into. all my black sins, your black
sins, our poor sin-stained life. And I don't know about you, but
I haven't lived as long as many of you, dear friends, but I can
go back 40, 50 years, and the sins I committed then, they still
pain my eyes. I think, how can I stand before
God with this black, sin-stained life? And then the Lord shows
me His righteousness, His perfect life, His obedience. In Christ's
obedience clothe and wash me in His blood. So shall I lift
my head with joy among the sons of God. And that's a sweet comfort
as we near our journey's end, as we go through life. To know
that the Lord has given us a covering that is spotless, is pure, and
to be led into that, and to see that, He leadeth me in paths
of righteousness for His namesake. Sometimes, dear friends, the
Lord leads us in dark paths, and maybe some of you are in
such a path at the moment and you think why is the lord forsaken
me is he not my shepherd anymore the sorrows the darkness the
perplexity the loneliness the trial at this present time and
but the psalmist he says yay in verse four Though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, and in a way we are at the moment,
aren't we? We've had many friends that have
brought Nyan to death, some that they have passed away, and we
walk in the shadow of that. of the thought, shall we be smitten
with the virus, shall we be taken? We've had loved ones, you've
had fellow pilgrims with you in the home there that have been
taken. You walk as it were in the valley
of the shadow of death. But he says, I will fear no evil,
for thou art with me. May that thought comfort strengthen
you this morning, if you're in such a dark valley, that the
Lord still is with His people in those valleys. He leads even
in paths like that. He still is in control. There
will be some good. There will be the helps. There
will be the comforts. There will be the fellowship
with Him in His sufferings. But then he leads us well in
our thoughts. Sometimes we're very troubled
with our thoughts, but other times we're sweetly led to meditate,
to think upon the things of God. And we bless the Lord that he's
led our thoughts and affections in a right way. David says that
he prevented the dawning of the morning that he might think upon
the word of God. So may the Lord lead us in our
thoughts. may lead us as to what to say. Sometimes we might have situations
before us we think, how can we answer? What can we say? Paul,
before Agrippa, he was given the opportunity to tell his call
by grace, so willingly he did so. And if we are in that situation,
may we be ready to give an answer to every man that asketh us. the reason, the hope that is
within us, and with meekness and with fear. But may we be
taught what to say, and sometimes what not to say, how to hold
our peace and to be quiet. But may we be led and feel that
the Lord has directed our words, our thoughts, but sometimes it's
what to do as well in providence, where to go, You may look back
over your lives many times where you've asked the Lord, Lord what
shall I do? Where shall I go? What decision
to make? Where should I move? I will instruct
thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go. I'll guide
thee with mine eye. the Lord leads his people and
I hope those of you there in the home are able to look back
at some of the leadings of the Lord to bring you where you are
and through the various steps of your life that he is your
shepherd and each token, each leading is a sweet token and
evidence that you are one of his sheep. We want to look then,
secondly, at how He leads. So the first point was where
He leads, and the second, how He leads. The Lord leads by His
knowledge, His knowledge all about us, and all round about
us, and His power. Many times with us, we are so
ignorant. There's many things we don't
know. And even if we know it, we don't
have the ability or power to change things. But the Lord has
both. He has wisdom and He has power. And he secretly moves us and
directs others. The heart of the king, we are
told, is in the Lord's hand. And who is he that saith, and
it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not? There are
many times in our lives that we cannot tell why we suddenly
felt we must go to that place and hear that service, or hear
that minister, or why we should do this or that. why it should
be that Jacob should send Joseph to his brothers at that particular
time, or Jesse send David to see the battle and it ends up
that Goliath is slain, or it ends up that Joseph is cast into
the pit and sold into Egypt. Major events in their life seem
to hang on the whim of Jacob just deciding to send Joseph
or Jesse David. How were they led? Led and shepherded
by Providence. Sometimes we are called to make
a decision, sometimes it's taken completely out of our hands,
as it was with dear Joseph, again and again, out of his hands. And yet we see the Lord led him
and the Lord directed him secretly through others' decisions, what
others were doing. Sometimes it is the Lord will
lead by steps with Cornelius. the angel appeared to him, Cornelius,
go down to Joppa, send men to Joppa, get Peter, Peter will
tell you words whereby you shall be saved, the first step the
angel appears, the second, well really Peter is prepared, and
then Peter comes to them, and then Peter preaches the word,
and then the Lord blesses that word, and the Holy Spirit falls
on them, and we see these steps to the blessing, the Lord leading
in that way from one step to another. So it is a blessing
to see the Lord's hand, to see that He is leading us, and like
David, to give Him the glory and the honour for what he is
doing, to be able to say, 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. So may we go forth today, and
this sweetly rest upon your spirit and upon mine, he leadeth me. So may the Lord bless this word
and help you through it.