With hymn number 24 in your spiral
gospel hymns, hymnal number 24, Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our
righteousness. Let's all stand. ? Jehovah Sidkenu ? ? The Lord,
our righteousness ? ? We love to call you by that name ? ?
Our Savior Christ Jesus ? ? Jehovah Sidkenu ? ? The God-man live
for us ? Bringing eternal righteousness ? Which God imputes to us ? Jehovah-Sid-Cain
who ? Our substitute who died ? Your blood has put away our
sins ? And we are justified ? Jehovah Siddiqui ? Your love has won
our praise ? Trusting your blood and righteousness ? We're saved
by your free grace ? Jehovah Siddiqui we stand in you alone. Our only fitness before God is
in our Lord, His Son, Jehovah Sidkenu. ? The Lord our righteousness
? ? Christ Jesus you alone we call ? ? The Lord our righteousness
? Please be seated. Good evening. Let's open our
Bibles to John chapter 10, John chapter 10. I was thinking as we were singing
that hymn what the prophet said when he said, and she shall be
called the Lord our righteousness. And as he is, so are we, the
perfect righteousness of Christ imputed to his people. What a glorious hope we have
in knowing that we've been made perfect in him. We'll begin reading a verse one
in John chapter 10 and read down through verse 11. 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. Now he's not talking about the
Old Testament prophets of course, he's talking about anyone that
comes before Christ in order of salvation have robbed him
of his glory and robbed and stole from man the hope of his salvation,
all that ever come before me. You see that? It's like when
in the Commandments where it said, I will have no other gods
before me. In preference to me, I will be
first. 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, and the
Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. Let's pray. Our merciful, glorious Heavenly
Father, what hope we find in being able to come into Thy holy
presence, knowing that thy dear son, our Lord and Savior, seated
at thy right hand, making intercession for us, we come before thee in
his name, based on his merit, his favor. Lord, what peace and
comfort and hope we have in knowing that that we are accepted in
the beloved, and that your love for your church is the same it
is for your son. Lord, thank you that we have
a shepherd. Lord, we are wandering sheep. We're dumb sheep. We're dirty
sheep. Lord, how we need to hear thy
voice. We pray that you would speak to our hearts by your word
tonight and cause us, Lord, to follow thee. We ask it in Christ's
name, amen. Number 229 from the hardback
temple, 229. Tell me the old, old story. Let's
all stand. of unseen things above, of Jesus
and His glory, of Jesus and His love. Tell me the story simply
as to a little child For I am weak and weary and helpless and
defiled Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story of
Jesus and his love. Tell me the story slowly, that
I may take it in. That wonderful redemption, God's
remedy for sin. Tell me the story often, for
I forget so soon. The early dew of morning has
passed away at noon. ? Tell me the old, old story
? Tell me the old, old story ? Tell me the old, old story
? Of Jesus and his blood Tell me the story softly With earnest
tones and praise Remember I'm the sinner Whom Jesus came to
save Tell me the story always If you would really be In any time of trouble, a comforter
to me. ? Tell me the old, old story
? Tell me the old, old story ? Tell me the old, old story
? Of Jesus and his blood Tell me the same old story When you
have cause to fear That this world's empty glory Is costing
me too dear Yes, and when that world's glory Is dawning on my
soul Tell me the old, old story, Christ Jesus makes thee whole. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story. Tell me the old, old story of
Jesus and his love. Please be seated. Let's open our Bibles to Psalm
23, Psalm 23. I love that hymn we just sang,
but I have to tell you that we sing that hymn before I stand
up here to preach. I'm encouraged and I'm convicted,
and I want to tell the old, old story. We're sinners in need of grace,
and the story's simple. It's plain. I hope that I cannot
not complicate it. I've titled this message, and
I was reading Psalm 23 yesterday, and the Lord just impressed on
my heart the words of this psalm, and I wanted to preach it tonight.
So I've spent yesterday and today trying to prepare some thoughts
on Psalm 23. A very familiar Psalm. I've titled it, I Shall Not Want. I Shall Not Want. I looked up
the word want, you see that in verse one, the Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want. It means to be in lack. or to
be without something or to have a need. And how in Christ we have everything. We shall not be in need of anything.
Everything that God requires, he provides for us in our shepherd. I was thinking about when the
children of Israel, I think I mentioned this Sunday, when the children
of Israel gathered up the manna in the wilderness. And it says
that they who gathered little lacked nothing. They that gathered
much had nothing left over. And we know that that manna is
Christ. And if we have him, we lack nothing. and we have nothing left over.
Everything we have, we come to him for our daily bread. He's that manna. Listen to Psalm
34, verse 10. The young lions do lack and suffer
hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not lack any good
thing, any good thing. We have Christ, we have everything
we need. What a blessing it is to be satisfied
in him, to be content, to know that Christ is all and
he's in all. And I want you to see also in
this first verse, the Lord is my shepherd. We are confessing
ourselves to be sheep Sheep are defenseless. Sheep are dirty.
Sheep are dumb. They're vulnerable. They have
to have a shepherd. They will be eaten alive by the
prey of evil without the care of the shepherd. And yet, with
the Lord Jesus as our shepherd, we're not in lack of anything. And the word want, the verb want
in verse one, is in the imperfect tense, which means it is a continual
action. You have the perfect tense, which
is an action completed never to be repeated. That's the perfect
tense. And then the imperfect tense
is a continual action. And this is in the imperfect
tense. And so we see our need to continue coming to him. To whom coming? We're always
in need of the Lord to be our shepherd. We are wandering sheep,
we get dirty, we get cast down, we become the victims of the roaring lion. And so, The Lord Jesus Christ is our
good shepherd who's laid down his life for the sheep. And we
shall not be in want. How oftentimes we're not content,
how oftentimes we're not satisfied, how oftentimes we are in want.
And yet it's that place that drives us back again to Him so
that this continual action of coming to faith in Christ satisfies
our need and answers all our wants. Paul said it like this in the
book of Colossians. He said, Christ is all and He's
in all. He's in all. He's in everything.
He's in all of our righteousness. He's in all of our justification.
He's in all of our sanctification. He's in all of our wisdom. He's
in all of providence and all of our circumstances. Christ
is all. And if the Lord causes us to
come, as we read in John chapter nine, through the one door, that
door being Christ, into the sheepfold, we have a shepherd, a good shepherd,
that laid down his life for his sheep and will provide for them
everything that they're in need of. What is it exactly that David
says he shall not be in want for? Well, I have several things
I want us to look at in this psalm. The first one is that
David is saying, I shall not be in want for a place of rest. What a blessing it is after laboring
hard to rest, to just sit down, put up your feet and rest. The labor's been done, the work
is over. We can finally relax. The Lord
Jesus himself is our rest. He is our Sabbath. He has finished
the work of redemption. There's no more work to be done. David said, I'm not in want for
any more labor than what he has produced. Notice in verse two,
he maketh me to lie down in green pastures. And I love that way
David says he maketh me. If the Lord didn't make us lie
down, we'd be all over the place. We'd be still working, we'd be
laboring, we'd be doing what we could do to try to earn favor
with God. And yet in his mercy, he takes
his sheep and he causes them to lie down in a green pasture. I looked up the word rest in
the Bible and the very first time that it's mentioned is after the deluge of Noah, the flood,
and Noah opens the window, the door to the top of the ark and
he lets out a raven. And the raven didn't come back.
The raven found all that it needed in the carcasses that were dead
as a result of the flood. And what a picture of of our
flesh, if the Lord just let us go, we would feed off the dead
carcasses of this world. The dove on the other hand, the
scripture says that she found no rest for her feet and she
came back to the ark. She came back. Tom Noah said she'd come back.
There we are. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not be in want. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. He gives me rest, rest for my
salvation, rest for the hope of my soul. I no longer am under
the lie of having to produce something in order to merit God's
favor. The Lord Jesus has done it for
me. That's why he said, come unto
me. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest for your soul. Rest. He going on to say, learn
of me. Learn of me. My burden is light. My yoke is easy. I bore the weight
of your sin. I carried that burden. And now it's all been done, it's
finished. It's finished, you can rest. No longer do you have to worry
about trying to atone for your sins or trying to satisfy God's
justice or trying to keep God's law, the rigors of the law. It's
a burden that cannot be borne. No longer do you have to worry
about The judgment and wrath of God. You rest. Rest, we have a Sabbath. God
rested on the seventh day because his work was finished. The Lord
Jesus rested. David's saying here in verse
two, the Lord is my shepherd. I will continue coming to him
so that I have no want for a place of rest. He maketh me to lie
down. The work is done. The law's been
kept. Justice has been established.
Sin has been put away. Salvation has been accomplished.
God is satisfied. Oh, can we not be satisfied with
what God's satisfied with? That's what David's saying. We
have to keep coming, don't we? Because we can become dissatisfied
very quickly. And yet, the Lord maketh thee,
he maketh me. And Scott and I were talking about
this. In the King James, when a verb ends with E-T-H, it's a continual thing, it's
kind of like Now in modern English we would end a verb in ing and
we turn a verb into an adjective and that's what these eth verbs
are, they're really adjectives. So it's describing something,
a verb is an action word, an adjective is a descriptive word
and when he says he maketh me to lie down in green pastures
is taking this verb and turning it into an adjective because
now this becomes not just something I do, but something I am. It's a description of what I
am now. I can only find my rest when
he maketh me to lie down. I have no want for peace. Notice in the rest of this verse,
he maketh me to lie down in green pastures, he leadeth me beside
still waters. I have no want for a place of
rest, and I have no want for peace. Now, best I can understand,
I've not been around sheep much, a sheep will not drink from a
river that has a swift current in it because they're not really
good swimmers and they're afraid of that being swept away. And
so the shepherd will go to the river and cut a trench in the
edge of the river and carve out a pond and allow some of that
water from the river to come into a still place where the
sheep feel comfortable and where they can drink much easier without
fear than they would if they just drank directly from the
river. That's the picture here. He leadeth me beside still waters. And we know what that water is.
That water is God's word. And I've been convicted by this
one verse just thinking about what preaching is. We just sang,
tell it to me softly, tell it to me slowly, tell it to me again,
make it simple, lead me beside still waters, don't throw me
in the river where the current is rushing by and where I'm being
bombarded with too much information. Make it simple, make it clear,
make it plain. Cut out a trench from the river
of God's word and put some water in a little pond where I can
drink because I can't drink from that raging river. There's too
much, there's too much there. And isn't this true when it comes
to when God speaks to our hearts? And we listen to a message, and
maybe there's a lot of scripture quoted, but one verse stands
out. Or we read a large passage of
scripture, or we're reading something, and one thought the Lord gives
us, there's that one thing to meditate on. And I've known people
that, well, They try to digest too much of the scriptures. And
the scripture says that if you eat too much honey, you will
vomit. And those people that I've talked
to, and I hope I'm not talking about myself, but they just regurgitate
too much information. because they've eaten too much
honey. Brethren, take this tip of the rod like David did, like
Jonathan did, and dip it in the honey in just a little bit, just
a little bit at a time. Don't try to take on too much
of God's Word. The shepherd will cut out a ditch and he'll He'll create
a pond and He'll cause us to drink at peace. There's no peace
when there's too much information. It takes away our peace. David's
saying, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not be in want. for a place of rest, and I shall
not be in want for peace because he leads me to the still waters,
the water of his word, and enables me to drink simply and clearly. In Luke chapter two, when Simeon
saw the Lord Jesus as a baby, And he lifted up his eyes to
heaven and he said, this is the consolation of Israel. This is
what I've been waiting for. And then he goes, Lord, let thy
servant now depart in peace according to thy word. According to thy
word. God uses his word to speak peace
to the heart. We can't speak peace to one another's
heart. There's very little peace. No
peace in this world. But when God takes his word and
causes it to be alive and takes a simple truth from God's word
and just gives us peace. And this peace begins as a position. It begins as a position. We have
peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. We, there's now
therefore no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.
You know, we, we, we love the peace of God. We love that feeling
than that experience of, of having the peace of God. But the peace
of God can only be the result of having peace with God. It
is, it must begin as a position. It's who we are in Christ. able to stand, able to come before
the throne of grace with boldness, able to stand in the presence
of a holy God because the Lord Jesus Christ has made peace for
us. He has satisfied God's justice. He has fulfilled God's law. He
has put away our sin. God has been made propitious. The scripture calls the Lord
Jesus Christ our propitiation. That means that all of the wrath
and anger of God has been put away. There's nothing in the
believer's union with God now but peace. I know the thoughts
that I think toward you, thoughts of peace, not of evil, not of
evil, to give you your expected end. David says, the Lord is
my shepherd. And with him as my shepherd,
I have no want for a place of rest, and I have no want for
peace with God, because it's all in him. Scripture says of the unbeliever,
the way of peace they have not known. The Lord Jesus said, I
am the way. the truth and the life. No man
can come to the Father but by me. There is a way that seems
right unto man and that way would be to earn favor with God by
our works or by our will or by our wisdom or atone for our own
sins or do something to try to garner God's favor. That's the
way that seems natural. That's the way that seems right
unto man. The Lord said, I am the way. And the way of peace,
the world has not known. They don't know Christ. They
don't know that we have peace with God. David's saying, when
it comes to having peace with God, if I have the Lord Jesus
as my shepherd, who I continually come to and want, I have no want. I have no want. He takes care
of all the needs that I have. when it comes to having peace
with God. Luke chapter 24, the disciples
were huddled in the upper room after the crucifixion, after
the resurrection, just knowing that they were gonna be next.
And the scripture says, and with the doors shut, the Lord Jesus
appeared unto them and they were terrified. They were terrified
for they thought that he was a spirit And he said, peace be
unto you. Peace. He said, give me a fish,
give me some honey, touch my body. See, I'm not a spirit.
I'm raised from the dead. You have peace with God by the
work that I accomplished. And the evidence of that accomplished
work is my resurrection. My presence is is the evidence
of your peace with God. And now he's ascended into glory. We look through the eyes of faith. The Lord said to Thomas, you
remember Thomas didn't believe when he came later. And then
finally he did believe when he said, oh my Lord and my God.
And what did the Lord say to Thomas? Thomas, Thomas, it's
good that you've seen me and that you believed. but blessed
more are they that have not seen me and yet believe. We look now
through the testimony of these men that did see him and God
gives faith to believe their testimony and we look to heaven. We do, we set our affections
on things above. No want for a place of rest. There's no rest outside of Christ
and all rest is in Christ. We have no want for peace. All peace is in Him and perfect
peace. Oh, that's what he said. I think it was in the book of
Isaiah. Perfect peace belongs to them. whose mind is stayed
on thee, for they trusteth in thee. How do we trust in the
Lord? Well, faith comes by hearing
and hearing comes by the word of God. So here it is again.
Here's that still water. Here's the word of God. When
God enables us just to take his word and to believe it and to
drink freely in perfect peace, belongs to them whose mind is
stayed on thee for they trusteth in thee. Notice in verse three, he restored
my soul. What is it brethren? What is
it that this word restore means to turn
back? And what is it that causes you
to turn away? And here again, it's a continual
work. It's in the imperfect tense. He's always bringing me back
because my sin is always turning me away. It's always turning
me away. David said, my sin is ever before
me. And in Psalm 51, he said, Make
me to hear joy and gladness and renew a right spirit within me.
And the bones that you have broken, Lord, might rejoice. Create in
me a clean heart, renew a right spirit within me, restore unto
me the joy of thy salvation. He restoreth my soul. David is saying, When it comes
to the forgiveness of sin, I have no want outside of Christ. All of my forgiveness is in Him. He's the only one that can say
to me, your sins are forgiven thee. He's the one. He's the one that convicts me
of my sin. He's the one that causes me to
look in faith to His accomplished work on Calvary's cross. and
to believe that he put away my sin, he restoreth my soul. Often as I sin, he is that often. He is that often restoring my
soul. Often as I turn away, he is that
often returning me back. And I lack nothing when it comes
to forgiveness. When it comes to rest, when it
comes to peace, when it comes to forgiveness of sin, I'm not
in want. I'm not in want of anything outside
of Christ. He's my shepherd and he alone
provides everything that I need for rest, for peace, for forgiveness,
And for holiness, look at the rest of verse three. He
restoreth my soul, he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness
for his namesake. When it comes to righteousness,
we just sang that. Jehovah said, can you? When it
comes to my need to be righteous in the sight of a holy God, Christ
is all my righteousness. I have need, he leadeth me to
himself as my righteousness before God. I lack nothing. God made him who knew no sin
to be made sin that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. My righteousness is as filthy
rags but in Christ as he is, so are we. when it comes to being
able to say that he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness,
he does it for his namesake. He does it not because I've done
something to merit that blessing or earn that, he gives it to
me because his name, his name is at stake. His name is called
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. He's
going to make them righteous. His name is at stake here. And when we pray, Lord, for thy
name's sake, Lord, forgive me. My sorrow is not sufficient.
I would love to be able to say that, you know, that I'd never
do that again. And I think that and I want that. And yet, how oftentimes, Lord,
if being forgiven for sin means that I've completely forsaken
sin, I have no hope of forgiveness. Lord, in my heart, I hadn't really
forsaken anything completely. There's a remainder of sin in
everything I do and think. but he leads me in the paths
of righteousness for his namesake. And he puts his name, and he,
Jeremiah 23, shall be called Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our
righteousness. And then 10 chapters later in
Jeremiah 33, and she shall be called Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord
our righteousness. He puts his name on us. And as he did, Perfect in the
sight of God, he restoreth my soul, he leadeth me in the paths
of righteousness for his name's sake. And in Christ, I lack nothing
and am in want of nothing. For the need to walk in faith
and obedience. Lord, whatever. Whatever desire
for obedience, whatever ability for obedience. I'm not talking
about obedience. I'm not talking about keeping God's law in such
a way. I'm talking about following after
Christ. We desire to obey Him. My sheep
hear my voice. They follow me. To follow someone
means that you keep your eyes on them. You're not looking to
the right or to the left. You're not looking behind you
to see how you've done. I remember the first time we
moved out in the country, and I got a rototiller, and I was
going to plow up a garden. I grew up in the city. I'd never,
never put a seed in the ground before. But I was so happy. I was going to grow something.
And I got about halfway down that aisle and started looking
back to see how well I had done. When I got finished, my rows
were all over. The neighbor came over. Took
some sticks with a white flag on it. He put it at the end of
the thing. He said, now you just keep your eye on that and your
rows will be straight. Sure enough, it worked. It worked. Keeping
your eyes on Christ. That's what it means to follow
him, to look to him. And David's saying, when it comes
to the paths of righteousness, for his namesake, he leads me. He causes me to follow after
him. Look at verse four. Yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. I was thinking
about how, we're talking about fellowship now. When it comes
to fellowship with God, Christ is everything. We have fellowship
with God in the person of his son. We cry out to our heavenly
father in the name of his son. And Adam, the scripture says,
I was comparing this verse to what it says in Genesis chapter
one, when it says that Adam walked with God in the cool of the day,
in a paradise. And now David's saying, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, what a contrast
between where we walk now and where Adam walked. And all as
a result of sin. This world is the shadow of valley
of death. This is not just our experience
in departing from this world in physical death. This is the
world in which we live. We're walking through the valley
of the shadow of death and we say, I'll fear no evil for thou
art with me. Thou art with me. Thy rod and
thy staff, they do comfort me. I'll never leave you nor forsake
you. And lo, I am with you always, even until the end of the earth. Oh, Mary, don't cling to me.
You remember Mary at the open tomb on that resurrection morning? I've not yet ascended to my father.
I'm going to go to my father, and I'm going to send the Comforter.
And he's going to be with you. And he's gonna lead you into
all truth and teach you of those things. And by the power of the
Holy Spirit, I will be with you and I'll not leave you. And you're
gonna be walking through the valley of the shadow of death
and there's gonna be a lot of things. David's saying, I'm in
need of nothing if my shepherd's with me. I want nothing when it comes
to my fellowship with God. You know, the Bible says that
Satan is a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. But hear
the Lord saying to us, he can roar, but he can't devour. His
bark's a lot worse than his bite. He can't destroy. He cannot destroy. He's called the accuser of the
brethren. and he makes accusations. But his accusations cannot be
substantiated. In fact, they're just accusations,
as there's no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. He tempts, and he often does,
but his temptations will always It will not be overcome by his
temptations in that we'll be tempted unto death. We'll be tempted unto... Satan
would have us to not believe God. He would have us to follow
after anything other than Christ and he's not going to be successful
in that. Not going to be. Why? Because greater is he that
is in you than he that's within the world. I'll be with you. You're gonna
walk through the valley of shadow of death? Fear no evil. Or deliver me from evil. In this world you shall have
much tribulation but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Our flesh is weak, it's sinful,
it's corrupt. And the Lord said, your old man,
your man of flesh, is gonna serve your new man. Esau's gonna serve
Jacob. And your sin and your flesh,
because I'm with you, I'm gonna use that to turn you back to
myself so that you'll have no want You'll be in continual need
of me and find in me your every need. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why? Because thy rod and thy
staff, they comfort me. Now a shepherd, as I understand,
would carry a rod as a weapon to defend the sheep against a
predator. What is our predator? Is it not
sin and Satan and death? Was not the rod of God's justice
what fell on the Lord Jesus on Calvary's cross? Thy rod and
thy staff, they comfort me. We're comforted. That's what
Isaiah chapter 40, comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Speak ye
comfortably to Jerusalem. Tell them that their warfare
is accomplished. Tell them that their sin's been
put away. There's the rod. The rod of God's wrath fell upon
the enemy at Calvary's cross, killed the predator, delivered
the sheep. Thy rod comforteth me. And Lord, the rod is not used
now on children. A staff is used. A staff was
another thing that the shepherd would use. to gently bring the
sheep into line. Maybe use the crook on the shaft
to get a hold of them and pull them back into the flock. Maybe
tap them on the side, maybe move them this way or that way. That's
our Lord's mercy and his providence and his love. That's him taking
his word and keeping his sheep in the flock. They'll not leave. We will not be in want for justice,
for comfort, for guidance. Not with the Lord as our shepherd.
See, that's what David's saying. When I have Christ as my shepherd,
I lack nothing. Everything I need for rest, for
peace, for comfort, for justice, for righteousness, For holiness,
it's all in him. It's all in him. Look at the
rest of this verse. Verse five, thou preparest a
table before me in the presence of my enemies. I have no want
for provision. David in another place said,
Lord, feed me with the bread that is convenient for me. And that word convenient means
that adequately measured for my need. Feed me with the bread
that is adequately measured to meet my need, so that they that
gathered much had nothing left over. They that gathered little
were not in want of anything. Sometimes the Lord feeds us sparsely,
sometimes he feeds us greatly. Lord, feed me with the bread
that is convenient for me. and feed me with that daily bread.
Here's what David's saying, if the Lord is my shepherd and he's
feeding me, I lack no provision. He provides everything I need. That's what the Lord said about
the, he said, consider the birds of the air. They don't spin,
they don't fret. They make their nest and God
provides for their young. Consider the lilies of the field.
Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed as one of them. Doth
not your heavenly Father love you more than these? He knows when a sparrow falls
to the ground. He knows your everything. The
Gentiles worry about these things. labor not for the meat that perisheth
but for that meat which leadeth to everlasting life. Look to
me, you'll find that your daily provisions are adequate. Yeah, Susan and I were talking
about this. There's a verse in Philippians
chapter four that says, I can do all things through Christ
which strengtheneth me. And the world and religious people
in particular love to use that verse. You hear athletes using
it a lot because they think that it's a promise from God to give
them physical strength to accomplish some feat in this world. And
religious people think, well, I'm going to obligate God because
I can do all things through Christ with strength in me. If you go
to that verse in Philippians chapter four, Paul's talking
about learning to be a base and learning to be, that's the other
word he uses there, in excess, and he talks about being content
in whatever state he is in. That's the context of what he
says in that verse. Contentment, contentment in whatever
the Lord has provided for me. Whatever provision he's given
me, this is what David said, thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of my enemies and you feed me with the bread
that's convenient for me and whatever it is, whatever it is,
I know it'll be right. David said to Mephibosheth, sit
down here at my table and you'll eat at the king's table. The king's gonna feed you. He's
gonna give you everything you need. Oh, the only way that you and
I are be content, because we can be very discontent, can't
we? The only way we're going to be content is by looking to
Christ as our shepherd and being able to say, I'm not in want. I'm not in want of anything.
He's prepared a table before me. in the very presence of my
enemy. And my greatest enemy is me,
is me. And he has shut me up. He has shut my mouth and caused
me to be content. That's a work of grace in the
heart. That only happens when the Lord is our shepherd and
we shall not. be in want, and only then can
we do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth us. Well,
lastly, and quickly, look at verse seven. Thou preparest a
table before me in the presence of my enemy. Thou anointest my
head with oil. And notice now these ESTs. This is a continual action. Any other translation other than
the King James would have an ING. He is continually anointing
my head with the oil of his spirit. And my cup runneth over, surely
goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. I'll
not be in want of anything good. You know, sometimes we refer
to our circumstances as good and bad. That's really not true,
brethren. It's really not true. Easy and
hard, yes. But there's no such thing as
bad. All things work together for good, for them that love
him and those that are called according to his purpose. And
however difficult our circumstances might be, God says it's good,
it's needful. And he brings good. So what am
I saying? As long as the Lord Jesus Christ
is my shepherd, I shall not be in want of goodness or of mercy. And of course the Lord Jesus
is the goodness. Why callest thou me good? There's
none good but God. What did the Lord say to Moses
on Mount Sinai? I'm gonna cause my goodness to
pass before thee. The Lord Jesus Christ himself
is the goodness of God. And if we have him as our shepherd,
we not lack anything good and we're not lack any mercy. All
the mercy that we need for the forgiveness of our sin. Our rest,
our peace, our righteousness, our holiness, our justification
before God. Everything. The provisions of
our daily bread. Everything we need. And the last
verse is the best one of all. The best one of all. The last
part. And I will dwell in the house
of the Lord forever. Forever. We will not lack anything
when it comes to what is required for us to spend eternity in the
house of the Lord with him. Why? Because he provided it all. I go and prepare a place for
you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself so that
where I am there you may be also. You believe in God, believe also
in me. In my Father's house there are
many mansions. I'm going to, when the Lord Jesus
ascended back into glory and took his rightful place at the
right hand of the majesty on high, everything required for
you and me to dwell in the house of the Lord forever was established. I shall not be in want of anything
outside of Christ when it comes to dwelling in the house of the
Lord forever. He's provided it all. The Lord
is my shepherd. I shall not want. Tom? 294. Let's stand together.
294. ? Savior, like a shepherd lead
us ? ? Much we need thy tender care ? ? In thy pleasant pastures
lead us ? ? For our use thy folds prepare ? ? Blessed Jesus, blessed
Jesus ? ? Thou has bought us, Thine we are ? ? Blessed Jesus,
blessed Jesus ? ? Thou has bought us, Thine we are ?